Asia signs 'green region' environment pact

Yahoo News 21 Nov 07;

Asked why the declaration did not include any numerical targets, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: "This is a declaration of intent, not a negotiated treaty of what we are going to do to restrict ourselves."

Leaders of 16 Asian nations including China and India signed an environmental pact on Wednesday, pledging action on climate change and forest cover, and promoting the use of nuclear energy.

The East Asia Summit members threw their support behind a UN plan as the "core mechanism" for tackling global warming.

They committed to work harder to develop alternative energy sources and cleaner fossil-fuel technologies, and to improve energy efficiency and conservation.

The East Asia Summit, which embraces the 10-nation ASEAN bloc plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, now sets the stage for next month's UN-backed global climate change talks in Bali.

After the United Nations warned that illegal logging is devastating Southeast Asia's tropical rain forests, the leaders set a goal to increase forest cover by at least 15 million hectares (37 million acres) by 2020.

They also agreed to cooperate on the "development and the use of civilian nuclear power," amid concerns soaring oil prices could hurt regional economic growth, according to their joint declaration.

But they stressed that the use of atomic energy will be carried out in a "manner ensuring nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation" by adopting safeguards within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog.

Environmental groups have voiced concerns over the disposal of nuclear waste and the danger that plutonium -- a key ingredient for making atomic weapons -- could fall into the wrong hands.

A key focus of concern is Southeast Asian extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a series of attacks in the region including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

The 16 nations also agreed to work towards reducing energy intensity -- a measure of the energy efficiency of a nation's economy -- but dropped plans to aim for a 25 percent reduction by 2030.

An earlier draft of the declaration obtained by AFP indicated that India had objected to the 25 percent goal.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer expressed optimism that China and India would agree to eventually cut greenhouse gas emissions and said the East Asia Summit pact helped "pave the way for a successful Bali meeting."

"I think there has been a turning of the tide in terms of China and India's positions on climate change," Downer told reporters.

"Now we are at last seeing these major developing countries saying yes, we need to do things as well to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

Two of the world's worst polluters, China and India ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change but, as developing nations, were not obliged to achieve fixed emissions reduction targets.

Delegates to the Bali talks will discuss a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which developed nations say must push China and India to cut pollution.

China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said earlier Wednesday that he will seek to increase cooperation with Asian nations on climate change and that the country will try to freeze its key pollution emissions at 2005 levels.

He said he would propose an international climate change forum in China next year to improve the region's ability to address global warming.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda also unveiled a hefty two-billion-dollar aid package over five years for developing Asian nations to help them tackle climate change.

It includes soft loans and training programmes aimed at helping developing nations address the issue while pursuing economic growth, and is focused on improving sewage processing and fighting pollution.


Asian leaders sign vague climate pact
Neil Chatterjee, Reuters 21 Nov 07;

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Leaders of 16 Asian countries, including top polluters China and Japan, agreed to a vague pact on climate change on Wednesday, trying to put aside discord over Myanmar's suppression of democracy protests.

In the declaration signed in Singapore, leaders of the East Asia Summit (EAS) committed to stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the long run.

But the pact, which contains no fixed targets on cutting emissions or even limiting their growth by a specific date, would serve as a basis for climate change negotiations at a major U.N. meeting next month in Bali.

The EAS -- 10 Southeast Asian nations plus China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand -- -- also agreed that "all countries should play a role in addressing the common challenge of climate change, based on the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities."

Asked why the declaration did not include any numerical targets, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: "This is a declaration of intent, not a negotiated treaty of what we are going to do to restrict ourselves."

Australia said the pact would make it easier to negotiate a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The United Nations hopes the Bali meeting will kick off two years of talks to agree on a new global framework to fight climate change.

"There has been a turning of the tide in China and India's position -- they're saying 'yes we need to do something to stabilize emissions'," Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said earlier.

China, the world's second-largest emitter of carbon dioxide after the United States, and India have steadfastly refused to agree to fixed targets and want rich nations to take the lead in cutting emissions and pay for cleaner energy technology.

"It's not positive but what can we expect? We can't expect countries like China or India to be on the same line as Japan -- these emerging countries are not ready to move first," said Emmanuel Fages, carbon analyst at French bank Societe Generale.

"There's nothing homogenous in Asia," he added.

The only numerical target in the climate pact was on forest cover.

The group agreed to "work to achieve an EAS-wide aspirational goal of increasing cumulative forest area in the region by at least 15 million hectares (37.5 million acres) of all types of forest by 2020".

MAD ABOUT MYANMAR

While the East Asian leaders tried to focus on climate change and trade, the issue of how to encourage wayward member Myanmar to embrace democracy soured ASEAN's 40th anniversary celebrations at which the grouping adopted a legal charter.

The Philippines broke ranks with other Association of South East Asian Nations members and called for the immediate release of detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"We particularly deplore the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi. She must be released. Now," Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in a statement.

Arroyo said on Monday the Philippine Congress might not ratify the charter if Myanmar did not commit to democracy and release Suu Kyi.

The charter -- which gives ASEAN a legal identity and enshrines principles of democracy and human rights -- needs to be ratified within 12 months following the signatures on Tuesday.

"All countries have to ratify it to bring it into effect," Singapore's Lee told reporters.

He added the sanctions that Western countries had slapped on Myanmar were ineffective because the regime had chosen to isolate itself from the outside world.

"You say I don't want to do business in Myanmar but it's water off a duck's back," Lee said.

(Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq, Jan Dahinten and Koh Gui Qing; editing by Bill Tarrant and David Fogarty)