INDONESIA: December 10, 2007
NUSA DUA, Indonesia - All nations must do more to fight climate change, and
rich countries must make deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the
worst impacts, a draft proposal at United Nations talks said on Saturday.
The four-page draft, written by delegates from Indonesia, Australia and
South Africa as an unofficial guide for delegates from 190 nations at the
Dec. 3-14 talks, said developing nations should at least brake rising
emissions as part of a new pact.
It said there was "unequivocal scientific evidence" that "preventing the
worst impacts of climate change will require (developed nations) to reduce
emissions in a range of 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020."
The draft is the first outline of the possible goals of talks on a new
global deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which binds just 36 developed
nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 5 percent below 1990 levels
by 2008-12.
"Current efforts ... will not deliver the required emissions reductions,"
according to the text, obtained by Reuters, that lays out a plan for
averting ever more droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising seas.
"The challenge of climate change calls for effective participation by all
countries," it said. The United States is outside the Kyoto pact and
developing nations led by China and India have no 2012 goals for limiting
emissions.
Echoing conclusions this year by the UN climate panel, it said global
emissions of greenhouse gases would have to "peak in the next 10 to 15 years
and be reduced to very low levels, well below half of levels in 2000 by
2050."
THREE OPTIONS
The draft lays out three options for how to proceed after Bali -- ranging
from non-binding talks over the next two years to a deadline for adopting a
new global pact at a UN meeting in Copenhagen in late 2009.
Rich nations should consider ways to step up efforts to curb emissions of
greenhouse gases by setting "quantified national emission objectives", the
draft says.
Poor countries should take "national mitigation actions ... that limit the
growth of, or reduce, emissions," it says. It adds that "social development
and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities" for poor
nations.
Delegates will report back on Monday with reactions.
Earlier, trade ministers from 12 nations met for the first time on the
sidelines of a UN climate conference, opening a new front in the global
warming battle.
Their two-day discussions ending on Sunday focus on easing tariffs on
climate-friendly goods to spur a "green" economy. About 20 finance ministers
will join the fringes of the Bali meeting on Monday and Tuesday.
"Climate change solutions open up important opportunities for jobs and
trade," Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean told reporters. Ministers at
the trade meeting included those from the United States, Australia, Brazil
and India.
Differences over who should take the blame for, and do most to curb,
emissions threatened to deadlock the main talks. Canada and Australia joined
Japan on Saturday in calling for commitments from some developing countries.
But developing nations would find it "inconceivable" to accept binding
targets now, said the UN's climate change chief Yvo de Boer. An alliance of
43 small island states urged even tougher action to fight climate change,
saying they risked being washed off the map by rising seas.
Outside the conference centre, Balinese dancers used sticks to burst black
balloons labelled "CO2", the main greenhouse gas.
-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/
(Reporting by Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle, Editing by Tim Pearce)
Story by Alister Doyle and Gerard Wynn
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
