|
Back to News
Home |
Environmental officials say bickering
and mistrust must end for sake of new UN climate pact.
Environmental officials urged industrialized and developing
countries Friday to stop bickering in climate change negotiations,
as a Chinese delegate accused rich nations of reneging on
commitments to fight global warming.
Officials from more than 100 countries are attending an annual U.N.
environmental meeting on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. They
said trust must be restored among nations following the failure at a
global conference in Copenhagen in December to forge a binding
accord on cutting emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases which
could threaten humanity.
"There was a very strong message from many countries that this is
actually an existential challenge," Indonesian Foreign Minister
Marty Natalegawa told a news conference.
"One overriding sentiment" expressed by many countries "was the need
to rebuild confidence, to address the question of trust deficit," he
said.
At Copenhagen, nations only agreed on a voluntary plan to tackle
climate change. The more than 190 nations will reconvene in Cancun,
Mexico, later this year for another attempt to reach a binding
agreement.
The aim is to keep the Earth's average temperature from rising more
than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial
levels of the late 18th century.
U.N. scientists have said any temperature rise above that figure
could lead to catastrophic sea-level rises, threatening islands and
coastal cities. It would also kill off many species of animals and
plants while altering the agricultural economies of many countries.
Despite the call for harmony, Chinese Foreign Ministry official Guo
Zaofeng accused developed countries of not living up to their past
commitments to cut greenhouse gases and provide funds and technology
to poor countries grappling with global warming.
"This way, they've broken the atmosphere of trust," Guo told The
Associated Press. "This is why we did not get quicker progress
during the negotiations."
China, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has
already said it would cut its "carbon intensity" — a measure of
carbon dioxide emissions per unit of production — by 40 to 45
percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.
China will undertake such emissions cuts voluntarily and not under a
legal accord, Guo said.
The head of the U.S. delegation in the Bali meeting, Kerri-Ann
Jones, refused to comment on Guo's remarks. She said the Copenhagen
meeting made progress, citing a plan for aid and technological
support for poor countries.
"It's a very difficult challenge that we're facing," Jones said. "We
have to keep working on the positive side. I think we can advance."
U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer told AP on Thursday it was unlikely
that a binding agreement could be forged in the Cancun meetings.
"It's very close to the deadline and that's a problem," de Boer
said. The Cancun meetings are expected in November or December.
He said the focus should shift toward reaching an agreement at a
summit next year in South Africa before the Kyoto Protocol, which
set emissions targets for industrial countries, expires in 2012.
De Boer, who helped kickstart the climate talks in 2007 on replacing
the Kyoto Protocol, last week announced he was resigning effective
in July, but said his decision had nothing to do with the outcome of
the Copenhagen meeting.
As one outcome of Copenhagen, 60 nations — including China, the
United States and the 27-member European Union — last month
submitted nonbinding pledges to the U.N. for reducing the
heat-trapping gases. Together the countries produce 78 percent of
the world's greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.
Several countries, meanwhile, have called for a review of the
U.N.-affiliated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which
issued a 2007 climate change report that contained errors.
A U.N. statement said details of the independent review and its
scope will be announced next week.
The report's conclusion that Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035
turned out to be incorrect, an error that bolstered arguments from
climate change skeptics that fears of global warming are overblown.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
|
