Clarissa Oon, Straits Times 22 Jan 08;
IT IS early days yet for international talks on a post-2012 climate change deal, but Singapore is not sitting idly by, Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar said yesterday.
It has laid out guiding principles, one of which is to support plans to fight smoke haze and reduce emissions from the razing of forests, said Professor Jayakumar, who heads a ministerial committee to tackle climate change.
Preliminary agreements on forest conservation proposed by Indonesia were reached at last month's United Nations climate change talks in Bali.
Singapore, a victim of the annual haze that blankets the region's skies, will adopt a 'principled and forward-looking stance as a responsible member of the global community while preserving our core national interests', said Prof Jayakumar.
The key principles that he spelt out were, firstly, that Singapore would participate actively in negotiations, but that any new framework should consider the national circumstances of each country.
Secondly, emission reduction targets should not be at the expense of a country's economic growth, particularly for developing countries.
Thirdly, the green technologies that are deployed should be 'pragmatic and cost-effective'.
Finally, he highlighted the need to protect the world's carbon sinks, calling for a stop to slash-and-burn practices and the large-scale burning of peatlands. Such activities release huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
The minister warned of a long road ahead for international talks because of the sheer number of countries and interests involved.
He was responding to a question by Nominated Member of Parliament Edwin Khew on Singapore's climate change strategy following the Bali talks.
Marked by fractious debates among developed and developing countries alike, the Bali conference launched two more years of formal negotiations on a deal to replace the current Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
The United States, for one, has not ratified the protocol. The protocol also does not bind fast-growing developing countries such as China and Brazil to emission reduction targets.
At home, Prof Jayakumar urged businesses to improve on their energy efficiency and called for non-governmental organisations to promote energy-saving measures here.
A survey conducted in 2006 by the National Environment Agency showed that only 63 per cent of the public are aware of the occurrence of global warming and climate change.
