Southeast Asia must push for 'climate action'

Yahoo News 24 Oct 09;

HUA HIN, Thailand (AFP) – Southeast Asian leaders meeting here must end deforestation and force rich nations into "deep and binding" emissions cuts at climate talks in Copenhagen, pressure group Greenpeace said Saturday.

The group pressed its demands by rolling two large balls into the venue of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Thailand, one with a campaigner inside, bearing the slogan "ASEAN leaders: U turn the Earth."

"It is critical that ASEAN member states, collectively and en bloc, support the completion of a strong climate deal in Copenhagen in December, and... announce zero deforestation," said Greenpeace's Southeast Asia campaign manager, Tara Buakamsri.

ASEAN leaders are expected this weekend to pledge support for the Copenhagen meeting, at which 192 nations will try to hammer out a successor to the soon-to-expire Kyoto protocol on climate change.

But Greenpeace said this was not enough.

"ASEAN citizens are already reeling under catastrophic impacts of climate change, as was made brutally clear by Typhoon Ketsana last month," said Buakamsri, referring to a storm that killed hundreds of people in the region.

"Yet, instead of recognising their enormous obligation to safeguard the region, ASEAN appears to still be in denial over these threats, expressing only token concern when catastrophe strikes."

Greenpeace estimates that 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, both members of the bloc.

The organisation is calling for industrialised countries to provide at least 40 billion dollars annually to support programmes aimed at halting deforestation.

The UN says less developed countries are likely to bear the brunt of global warming. Many developing nations say their richer counterparts bear a historical responsibility to lead the fight against global warming.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who met ASEAN leaders on Saturday, urged the grouping to "work together to make (Copenhagen) a successful conference," a Japanese delegation spokesman said.