Toner News Mobile › Forums › Latest Industry News › *NEWS*KEY CLIMATE SUMMIT OPENS IN BALI
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AnonymousInactiveKey climate summit opens in Bali
Governments
at a key UN climate summit will discuss how to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions after the current Kyoto Protocol targets expire in 2012.It is
the first such meeting since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) warned that evidence for global warming was
“unequivocal”.The two-week gathering in Bali, Indonesia, will also
debate how to help poor nations cope in a warming world.The annual
high-level meeting, organised by the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC), is under pressure to deliver a new global agreement on
how to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions.Rachmat Witoelar, the
Indonesian environment minister who was named president of the
conference, pledged to do his best to deliver a deal.
“Climate
protection must form an integral part of sustainable economic
development, and it is critical that we act and we act now,” he
said.UNFCCC Executive Director Yvo de Boer urged the international
community to use the summit to take “concrete steps” towards curbing
climate change.”We urgently need to take increased action, given
climate change predictions and the corresponding global adaptation
needs,” he said in his welcome message to delegates.”In the context of
climate change, projections of economic growth and increases in energy
demand over the next 20 years, especially in developing countries,
point to the urgent need to green these trends.Earlier this year, the
IPCC published its Fourth Assessment Report (A4R), in which it
projected that the world would warm by 1.8-4.0C (3.2-7.2F) over the
next century.Mr de Boer added that the IPCC’s conclusion that climate
change was “very likely” the result of human activity ended any doubt
over the need to act.
Climate for consensus?
At
the top of the conference’s agenda is the need to reach a consensus on
how to curb emissions beyond 2012.This marks the end of the current
phase of the Kyoto Protocol, which commits industrialised nations to
cutting greenhouse gas emissions by an average of about 5% from 1990
levels.Critics of the existing framework say binding targets do not
work, and favour technological advances instead.Recent studies show
that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are rising faster than
they were a decade ago.Meanwhile, US President George Bush – who
favours voluntary rather than mandatory targets – issued a statement
saying that the nation’s emissions had fallen by 1.5% in 2006 from
levels in 2005.Mr Bush used the reduction as an endorsement of his
climate policy, saying: “Our guiding principle is clear: we must lead
the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.”We must do it in a
way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from
delivering greater prosperity for their people.”However, the European
Union backs the use of binding targets. The 27-nation bloc has already
committed itself to cut emissions by 20% by 2020.A number of observers
believe the difference between the two economic powerhouses will result
in the Bali conference failing to deliver a policy roadmap for “Kyoto
II”.
Softening the blow
The
conference is also scheduled to consider how to fund projects that will
help developing nations deal with the impact of climate change.Ahead of
the climate conference, another UN agency published a report
criticising global efforts to date.The UN Development Programme’s
annual Human Development Report said funding currently amounted to $26m
(£13m), roughly the same amount as the UK spent on its flood defences
in a week.”Nobody wants to understate the very real long-term
ecological challenges that climate change will bring to rich
countries,” said lead author Kevin Watkins.”But the near-term
vulnerabilities are not concentrated in lower Manhattan and London, but
in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh and drought-prone parts of
sub-Saharan Africa.”Allowing the window of opportunity to close would
represent a moral and political failure without precedent in human
history. -
AuthorDecember 4, 2007 at 11:17 AM
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