Climate change in focus at Commonwealth summit

Yahoo News 23 Nov 07;

Commonwealth heads of state should send a strong message of support to next month's international summit on climate change in Bali, the 53-nation group's chairman said Friday.

"There is little doubt that in order to keep the adaptation challenge in manageable bounds we must work decisively towards the aim of reducing greeenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent below 1990 levels, and this to be reached by 2050," said Lawrence Gonzi, outgoing chairman and Maltese prime minister.

"The challenge of climate change not only requires a united front but an unprecedented level of cooperation and firm action," said Gonzi at the summit's opening ceremony in the Ugandan capital.

He added: "We must send a strong message of support to the forthcoming climate change conference in Bali."

Combating climate change is high on the Commonwealth agenda at the biennial summit, having not even been a footnote to the the final statement at the last meeting on Malta in 2005.

Officials said in the run-up to the summit that all members states are now agreed there is an "urgent" need to tackle the issue.

Present are those in the front line of climate change's effects like Kiribati, a Pacific island group in acute danger of being washed away by rising sea levels, as well as Australia, one of the world's biggest polluters.

The presence of Britain's Prince Charles, attending his first overseas Commonwealth heads of government summit, also ensured the problem was given prominence, as leaders met in behind-closed-doors talks to determine the body's future policy.

"Climate change has become the greatest challenge facing mankind," said Charles, who has previously spoken out about environmental issues, on a visit to a British Council-funded grassroots convention of activists.

"We all hold this planet in trust for our children and grandchildren."

On Thursday, Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo called for a carbon credit scheme to be introduced as an incentive for countries to reduce levels of deforestation, which has been blamed for a rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

"Cut down a forest, and you get money. But if you don't cut it down then there is no money for you," he said as the Commonwealth Business Forum wrapped up talks.

Carbon trading allow countries that reduce carbon dioxide emissions below a target level to sell the remainder to a private company or country that has not met the goal.

The loose federation of mostly former British colonies includes some of the world's major polluters such as Australia, who are said to be holding out on a more strongly-worded final Commonwealth communique to take to Bali.

But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman Michael Ellam told reporters differing views were to be expected. He refused to say whether Britain was pushing for the Commonwealth to agree on specific binding targets.

"We're looking to achieve consensus here on the business of commitment to a positive agenda in Bali," he added.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Bali aims to see countries agree to launch a roadmap for negotiating cuts in climate-changing carbon emissions from 2012.

That is the date when current pledges under the Kyoto Protocol expire.

Meetings leading up to the Bali talks begin in the Indonesian resort on December 3 and the summit concludes on December 14.

Commonwealth summit focus shifts from Pakistan to climate change
Channel NewsAsia 24 Nov 07

KAMPALA : The Commonwealth's biennial summit opened Friday in Uganda with leaders focusing on climate change, a day after Pakistan, which is still under emergency rule, was suspended from the organisation.

Despite an angry reaction from Islamabad and a thinly-veiled threat to withdraw from the grouping, leaders gathered in Kampala defended the suspension Pakistan's.

"You can be assured that every country that has been suspended will say that we didn't understand the unique circumstances that prevailed in their country at the time," Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon told reporters.

"We think we did," he added.

An ultimatum set by the Commonwealth earlier this month for Musharraf to step down as army chief, free judges and opposition supporters and lift curbs on the media expired on Thursday at 1900 GMT.

Gathered in a retreat just outside the Ugandan capital Kampala, presidents and prime ministers from most of the Commonwealth's 53 members were also set to discuss efforts to combat climate change.

Speaking at the heads of government meeting's opening ceremony, officials emphasised the urgency of the issue and the need to step up cooperation between member states.

"There is little doubt that in order to keep the adaptation challenge in manageable bounds we must work decisively towards the aim of reducing greeenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent below 1990 levels, and this to be reached by 2050," said Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

"The challenge of climate change not only requires a united front but an unprecedented level of cooperation and firm action," said Gonzi, also the summit's outgoing chairman.

Yet it remained unclear whether all members would sign up to Gonzi's proposal in the summit's final declaration on Sunday.

"There are still differences," Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon admitted in a press conference.

The loose federation of mostly former British colonies includes some of the world's major polluters: but also some of those countries most at risk from the consequences of global warming.

Among the major polluting countries at the gathering are Britain, Canada -- and Australia, one of few rich nations not to have ratified the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases.

But Commonwealth members in front line of climate change's effects include Kiribati, a Pacific island group in acute danger of being washed away by rising sea levels.

Gonzi added: "We must send a strong message of support to the forthcoming climate change conference in Bali."

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Bali aims to see countries agree to launch a roadmap for negotiating cuts in climate-changing carbon emissions from 2012.

That is the date when current pledges under the Kyoto Protocol expire.

Meetings leading up to the Bali talks begin in the Indonesian resort on December 3 and the summit concludes on December 14.

McKinnon said that heads of state were likely to further discuss the nine-country ministerial committee's decision to suspend Pakistan in spite of continued US support for Musharraf.

He also admitted that there had been divisions within the group, notably objections from Sri Lanka, but stressed the move was the result of consensus.

Musharraf's bloodless coup in 1999 had already earned Pakistan a Commonwealth suspension. It was brought back in the fold in 2004 when the general promised to hang up his uniform, a promise he failed to keep.

The last countries to be suspended were Fiji last year and Zimbabwe in 2002.
- AFP /ls