Politicians must heed public on climate: Kofi Annan

Yahoo News 23 Jun 09;

GENEVA (AFP) – Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that politicians in the world's richest nations would face the wrath of public opinion if they failed to tackle climate change.

In an interview with AFP, Annan said the issue was gaining the kind of resonance that HIV/AIDS and third world poverty achieved during his decade-long tenure as secretary general until 2006, when international action was driven by popular social movements.

"I think it's already moving into that space and I think it's going to get louder, and it's going to fill greater political space," he told AFP.

Annan pointed to the recent surge of the Green Party in European elections, especially in France, and the way individual US states, such as California, had ultimately put pressure on Washington's federal policy agenda.

"This is happening in many other countries and the politicians will wake up to it," he explained.

Earlier, Annan urged developed economies to lead efforts for "deep, binding and fair" targets to cut emissions of greenhouse gases at a landmark climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.

"Those developed economies most responsible for past and present emissions must take the lead," he said at a meeting of the Global Humanitarian Forum he set up in 2007.

"Without them accepting responsibility, the rapidly developing economies will understandably resist the changes in their economies which are also needed," he warned the meeting on the human impact of climate change.

Annan told AFP that Copenhagen was "a great opportunity which should not be squandered."

He said: "If it is a test, it's a test of the seriousness of our leaders and their understanding of the issues we are dealing with and they'll be judged by their voters and people as to what action they'll take in Copenhagen.

"And whether they take action in Copenhagen or not, they ought to be on notice that the environment is going to go very high up the agenda, and it will (feature) in the choices people make at the polls," he added.

National climate change negotiators last week wrapped up their latest round of preparatory talks for a global warming pact hinting that there had been no progress on the core issue of how to share the burden of future emissions cuts.

Annan said Tuesday that the "overwhelming destruction that climate change is causing and will continue to cause" on the 50 poorest nations should be at the forefront of attempts to forge a global agreement in Copenhagen.

Yet the least developed countries account for just one percent of greenhouse gases, according to a recent report by the Global Humanitarian Forum.

"The poorer countries are paying the biggest price but we are all affected," he told AFP.

"If we accept that the pollution has cost, then the polluter must pay. Some of the funds we collect must be directed towards helping these countries adapt," Annan said, referring to a key stumbling block in climate change talks.

"We don't have time, we're running out of time, the problem is urgent, the scale is huge," he explained.

"We need to focus and take advantage of the current economic and financial crisis to do things differently, but not to use the crisis as an excuse for inaction."

Annan optimistic about climate pact prospects
Laura MacInnis, Reuters 23 Jun 09;

GENEVA (Reuters) - Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday he was optimistic that the world could agree on a climate change accord with the support of the U.S. administration of Barack Obama.

In his opening remarks to the Global Humanitarian Forum, Annan said the clock was ticking for the world to avert extreme storms, floods and droughts that will intensify with global warming.

"Every year we delay, the greater the damage, the more extensive the human misery," he told an audience at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, also warning of "cost, pain and disruption of inevitable action later."

His group's two-day meeting has drawn together heads of U.N. agencies with government officials and experts for talks on practical ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions that scientists expect to stoke global warming and cause rising sea levels and loss of food production.

Annan, 71, said he hoped their discussions on "the greatest environmental and humanitarian concern of our age" would help set the stage for a deal in Copenhagen in December on a successor to the Kyoto accord.

"A new president and new administration in the United States have demonstrated their seriousness about combating climate change. Given that the U.S. is the greatest source of emissions, this raises optimism for Copenhagen and beyond," Annan said.

More than 190 countries will meet in Copenhagen to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which regulates emissions of greenhouse gases.

Economic stimulus efforts in Washington, Brussels and around the world in response to the global economic downturn have also pumped investment into low-carbon energy and alternative technologies that could create jobs and boost sustainable projects, Annan said.

Climate experts have warned pledges by industrialised nations to cut emissions by 2020 fall far short of the deep cuts widely advocated to avert dangerous climate change.

Overall emissions cuts promised by industrialised nations in the run-up to December's meeting now average between 10 and 14 percent below 1990 levels, according to Reuters calculations. The U.N. Climate Panel says cuts must be in the 25-40 percent range below 1990 levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)