UN Chief Warns Against Waiting for Climate Deal
SWITZERLAND: September 1, 2008
GENEVA - The world should not wait until next year to cobble together a new
climate change pact, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on
Sunday.
Ban, addressing diplomats and officials at a ceremony for the 20th
anniversary of the UN climate panel, said countries negotiating a successor
deal to the Kyoto Protocol should aim for a meaningful breakthrough in
Poznan, Poland, in December.
Delaying major advances until the end of 2009, when a Copenhagen summit will
aim to finalise an accord to tackle rising global temperatures, may be
ill-advised, Ban told the event in Geneva.
"We must fight the urge to postpone everything until Copenhagen. Surely we
can make concrete progress on some issues," the UN chief said, adding that
the Poland meeting should serve as "a very successful bridge" for
Copenhagen.
"I would emphasise the need to make the most of the upcoming opportunity in
Poznan," he said. "It is my sincere hope that by the end of this year in
Poznan parties to the climate change convention will have achieved a better
understanding of a shared vision for long-term cooperative action."
The Kyoto Protocol binds 37 developed nations to curb emissions of global
warming greenhouse gases until 2012. Neither the United States nor China,
the top two greenhouse gas emitters, have imposed limits under Kyoto.
Negotiations last week in Ghana, in which countries made commitments to help
save tropical forests, were the latest of a series of international meetings
meant to culminate in a new accord to counter the effects of climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), formed in 1988, has
warned global warming will cause rising seas, big storms, heatwaves and
droughts. That UN panel shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice
President Al Gore last year.
US President George W. Bush, who has opposed the Kyoto accord, will leave
office in January. But the slowing global economy may make it difficult for
Washington and others to accept a climate change accord that could add to
energy costs.
Ban said it was imperative for the new US government to play a leadership
role in climate change for the international community to agree on strong
emission cut targets.
"Whoever may be elected as president of the United States, they may be in a
better position to address and to lead this process," the UN chief told
journalists at the Geneva event. (Reporting by Laura MacInnis; editing by
Sami Aboudi)
Story by Laura MacInnis
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
|