AUSTRIA: Environmentalists express anger at industrialised countries' lack of agreement to reduce greenhouse gases at a U.N. climate conference in Vienna

Environmentalists express anger at industrialised countries' lack of agreement to reduce greenhouse gases at a U.N. climate conference in Vienna, and accuse them of condemning millions in the developing world to 'hunger', 'misery' and 'disease'. Industrial nations were shying away from fixing stiff 2020 guidelines for greenhouse gases cuts at U.N. talks on Friday (August 31) in what environmentalists said would be a vote for "dangerous" climate change. A draft text at the U.N. talks dropped a demand that developed nations should be "guided" by a need for steep cuts in greenhouse gases of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 in working out a long-term fight against global warming. The European Union and many developing nations such as China and India want industrial states to use the stringent 25-40 percent range to guide future talks to force a shift away from fossil fuels, blamed by U.N. reports for stoking global warming. But Russia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland objected to setting the stringent range in negotiations about extending the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, the main plan for fighting global warming that runs to 2012, delegates said. "The lower the stabilisation level (of greenhouse gases) achieved, the lower the consequent damages," the draft said. It mentions the option of 25-40 percent cuts but drops a previous reference to them as an indicative guide for future work. Red Constantino of environmental group Greenpeace condemned the lack of desire by the industrialised nations to stick to the stiffer targets. "The discussions about ranges are about creating a situation that would condemn millions, tens of millions in the developing world to hunger, to misery, to water shortage, to disease. This is appalling, we believe this is atrocious and that it is totally unacceptable," Constantino said. "We want real progress, we want real talk about cuts that would make significant steps forward to protecting the climate. Anything less than 25 to 40 percent cuts by 2020 would be totally unacceptable," he added. Kyoto binds 36 industrial nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12 in a first step to contain warming that could bring more floods, desertification, disease and raise sea levels. Angela Ledford-Andersen, of the U.S. National Environment Trust said the inability to keep the warming of the planet within a strict cap might have dangerous impacts. "It's sad that if we do not, are not able to stop the warming of the planet, to keep it under two degrees, then we face potentially catastrophic effects. Certainly, developing countries, and there are a lot of countries that are more vulnerable to those impacts then others, but across the board we are going to see very dangerous impacts from climate change," Ledford-Andersen said. The talks are the first chance for Kyoto backers to see if they can agree a range for industrial nations' talks on a new climate pact that many governments want to agree in 2009. The United States has not ratified Kyoto and thus is not involved. President George W. Bush has separately called a meeting of major emitters in Washington on Sept. 27-28. Yvo de Boer, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said in Vienna that the week had made some progress but hinted that there was still work to be done. "There is a change in mood, there are important countries who say the time for talk has come to an end, the time to negotiate has begun. But not everyone in the room is saying that yet," he said. Cuts of 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 are the stiffest scenario by the U.N.'s climate panel in a May 2007 report seen as limiting global warming to 2.0 to 2.4 Celsius (3.6 to 4.3 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The EU, which has said it will unilaterally cut emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by 30 percent if other nations follow suit, and environmentalists say that any gain in temperatures above 2 Celsius will bring dangerous changes.

ITN Source | September 1, 2007

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