General News
11/27/2009 12:07 AM ET
(RTTNews) -
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will call upon nations at the Commonwealth summit starting Friday for urgent action in forging a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set limits on global warming greenhouse gases for industrialized nations and whose first commitment period expires in 2012.
The gathering of leaders from the 53-nation body in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago is the last major international meeting before the December 7-18 U.N. climate change talks in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
The U.N. Chief will urge the Commonwealth leaders to attend the summit, confident that strong momentum is building for a framework that can be moulded into a legally binding climate treaty as early as possible in 2010, spokesperson for Ban told a news briefing in New York Thursday.
Ban, who has repeatedly called climate change and its attendant consequences of increased droughts, floods, rising seas and more violent storms "the defining challenge of our era," will call on leaders to stay focused and committed to reach an agreement "that is ambitious, equitable, and satisfies the demands of science," the spokesman said.
He said the Secretary-General will also urge the leaders that the world cannot afford to fail in Copenhagen because the costs are simply too great. Failure to seal a deal could result in increased human suffering, higher economic losses, opportunities squandered in terms of productivity, global competitiveness and political stability.
Thursday, Ban welcomed the announcement about U.S. President Barack Obama's participation at Copenhagen as yet another sign of the gathering momentum.
The shift towards focusing the Commonwealth summit on global warming was clear with the inclusion of Ban and two other non-Commonwealth leaders. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is at the forefront of E.U. efforts to cut greenhouse gase emissions, and Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, who will host the U.N. talks in Copenhagen, will also address Friday's summit meeting.
The Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Yvo de Boer, said that President Obama's presence in the Danish capital "would make a huge difference" besides the U.S. commitment to specific, mid-term emission cut targets and China's commitment to specific action on energy efficiency can "unlock two of the last doors" to a comprehensive agreement.
"Let there be no doubt that we need continued strong ambition and leadership," he stated. "In particular, we still await clarity from industrialized nations on the provision of large-scale finance to developing countries for immediate and long-term climate action."
1
2
Next Page
|
|