November 16, 2006 — By Alister Doyle and Gerard Wynn, Reuters
NAIROBI — Rich and poor nations
wrangled on Thursday about how to widen a fight against global warming
beyond 2012 to break deadlock at U.N. talks on combating what many
delegates call one of the biggest threats to the planet.
About 70 environment ministers at the Nov. 6-17 meeting have agreed steps
to help Africa and other poor nations cope with feared impacts such as
drought and floods. But they are deeply divided on how to extend the Kyoto
Protocol for curbing warming.
"Sometimes it's not easy to solve problems among the three parties in
government (in Germany)," German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said.
"Here you have 189 (nations) and its difficult to find solutions."
"My own sense is that none of the action or activity is at the sort of
pace the world needs, but momentum is probably building," Australian
Environment Minister Ian Campbell told Reuters.
At the talks, many rich nations are pushing for a detailed review of the
Kyoto Protocol, which sets caps on emissions of greenhouse gases by 35
industrial nations, as a prelude to widening the scheme to poor nations
such as China and India.
"It's not realistic to finalise such a comprehensive review here in
Nairobi. We must agree here in Nairobi about how to fix a time line," said
Finnish Environment Minister Jan-Erik Enestam, whose country holds the
rotating EU presidency.
SET GOALS
Poorer states say Kyoto nations should concentrate on setting new, tougher
targets for themselves beyond 2012 for cutting emissions of heat-trapping
gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and
cars.
"Our partners in the developed countries have not yet shown us the lead in
implementing their commitments," a Sudanese environment ministry official
said on Thursday.
Poorer nations fear that any deep review will be a way to lure them into
making expensive commitments.
A statement by African states said a planned review of Kyoto, set for the
Nairobi talks under the text of the deal agreed in 1997, "has taken
place". It said it focused on promoting investments in clean energy such
as wind and solar power in developing nations and aid to adapt.
The European Union, which accounts for 14 percent of world carbon dioxide
emissions, wants poor countries to start braking their own emissions but
Enestam said the EU was not seeking Kyoto-style caps for developing
nations.
"We are not proposing binding targets for the developing countries," he
said.
One senior diplomat said developing nations might agree to a fuller review
of Kyoto in 2008 if rich states agreed to set new goals for themselves by
the end of 2009.
He said there was awareness of a need for progress after U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday that climate change was one of the
biggest threats to the planet and that there was a "frightening lack of
leadership" on the issue.
The United States, the world's biggest source of emissions, is not taking
part in the talks about Kyoto. President George W. Bush pulled out in
2001, arguing that it wrongly excluded poor nations and would cost U.S.
jobs.
Many nations are reluctant to set new goals for Kyoto until they know the
views of a new U.S. president in 2009.
Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme, said that the
meeting was largely meant to focus on Africa's needs. "I believe we will
have that signal. Therefore it will not have been a waste of time to have
this (meeting) in Africa," he said.