"Momentum Building" for New Climate Deal-UN
Date: 27-Aug-07
Country: AUSTRIA
Author: Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
About 1,000 delegates from more than 100 countries at the
Aug 27-31 talks will seek common ground between industrial
nations with Kyoto greenhouse gas caps until 2012 and outsiders
led by the United States and China, the top two emitters.
"Momentum is very much building," for global action, Yvo de
Boer, the UN's top climate change official, said of the
meeting of senior officials, scientists and activists. "And
Vienna's going to be crucial."
"The coming week will give us an indication of whether the
political community ... is willing to move beyond
well-intentioned platitudes towards real negotiations," he told
a news conference on the eve of the talks.
"The fight against climate change must be broadened,"
Austrian Environment Minister Josef Proell said, welcoming US
willingness to take part in a long-term UN deal to cut
emissions mainly from burning fossil fuels.
Vienna will try to break a diplomatic logjam and enable
environment ministers to agree at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia,
in December to launch formal two-year negotiations to define
stiffer long-term curbs on greenhouse gases.
But while delegates talk about talks, many worry that
climate change is already taking its toll, especially in
developing nations heavily dependent on agriculture.
"We have a very dangerous situation developing," said
Lesotho's Minister of Natural Resources Monyane Moleleki. "For
the past 30 years climate change has been spooky to say the
least."
DROUGHTS
The number of severe droughts in southern Africa had doubled
since 1978 compared to the rest of the 20th century, he said.
"And when the rains come they come in deluges, torrents that are
useless."
"Cape Verde is an island state, hit by all vulnerabilities
of climate change," said Cape Verde Environment Minister
Madalena Neves, pointing to risks such as rising seas and
desertification.
Chances of a deal in Bali have risen sharply after UN
reports this year blamed human activities, led by use of fossil
fuels, for a changing climate set to bring ever more severe heat
waves, droughts, erosion, melting glaciers and rising seas.
And President George W. Bush, a Kyoto opponent, agreed in
June with his industrial allies on a need for "substantial cuts"
in greenhouse gas emissions. It is unclear exactly what
"substantial" means for Washington.
The European Union, Japan and Canada have all talked about a
need to halve world emissions by 2050 to slow warming.
Many nations want a "Bali road map" agreed in Indonesia -- a
two-year plan to work out a deal to succeed Kyoto, which obliges
35 industrial nations to cut emissions by 5 percent below 1990
levels by 2008-12.
A road map could include principles that a deal should
include major emitters, that it should not undermine economic
growth in developing nations and that rich nations should take
the lead, delegates say.
Even though there are five years left until 2012, many
experts say time is already running short. Anyone planning to
build a coal-fired power plant, or to invest in carbon markets,
wants to know the long-term rules.