Developed world must slash greenhouse gases: Pacific Island states

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CAIRNS, Australia (AFP) – Developed countries must slash their greenhouse gas emissions to ensure the survival of vulnerable island states, Pacific island leaders said Tuesday.

Leaders of seven tiny Pacific island states met ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum summit starting Wednesday.

They include some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, including the atoll archipelagos of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, which include land just two to three metres (six to nine feet) above sea level.

The leaders supported the stance of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a global grouping, which has called for 45 percent cuts below 1990 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and 85 percent cuts worldwide by 2050.

"We know there will be differences, we understand some of the difficulties the developed countries have with respect to the changes that are needed," said Toke Talagi, chairman of the forum's Small Island States grouping.

"The small island states have agreed we must make a very strong stance with respects to the greenhouse gas emissions," said Talagi, the Premier of Niue, a tiny island state with a population of around 1,100 people.

Talagi told journalists there were a lot of funds available for mitigating and researching the effects of climate change but there was often difficulty in getting access to that money.

An Oxfam report last week said by the year 2050, about 75 million people could be forced to leave their homes due to climate change in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Climate change has the potential to affect almost every issue linked to poverty and development in the Pacific," said Oxfam New Zealand executive director Barry Coates.

"Without immediate action 50 years of development gains in poor countries will be permanently lost," he said.

Climate change is expected to worsen storm surges, cyclones and high tides.

"Scientists have also projected an increase in diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, together with significant soil and coastal erosion as a result of climate change," Oxfam said.

Unless wealthy, developed countries like Australia and New Zealand take urgent action to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, some island nations in the Pacific could become uninhabitable, Oxfam said.

Oxfam estimated that around 150 billion US dollars would be needed every year to fund adaptation and emissions reductions in developing countries on top of existing aid.