ASEAN to urge for legally binding climate change pact

Yahoo News 7 Apr 10;

HANOI (AFP) – Southeast Asian leaders will call for a legally binding global pact on climate change, according to a draft summit statement seen by AFP on Wednesday.

The statement said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meeting in Vietnam on Thursday and Friday will also urge rich countries to continue taking the lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

All parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change should "work together to secure a legally binding agreement, particularly to limit the increase in average global temperature to below two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level," the draft said.

Developed countries should also "continue taking the lead by making more ambitious commitments and setting out specific and equitable binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the mid-term and long-term."

An 11th-hour climate change deal reached in Copenhagen in December does not legally bind countries to their commitments to cutting carbon dioxide emissions blamed for climate change.

The Copenhagen Accord calls for limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the threshold set by many scientists.

However, critics have complained that the actions are only voluntary and lacking in vital details on how to achieve the goal.

The agreement also commits rich countries to paying out around 30 billion dollars in total over the next three years and sets a potential figure of 100 billion dollars annually by 2020, to help poor nations fight climate change.

In the draft statement, the ASEAN leaders say they will also consider "the possibility of developing an ASEAN action plan to better understand and respond to climate change".

They will continue to exchange views to come up with a common ASEAN position in the next climate change talks in Mexico this year.

ASEAN to take stock of economic integration & climate change response
S Ramesh Channel NewsAsia 7 Apr 10;

SINGAPORE: ASEAN leaders meet in Hanoi this week for their mid-year summit under new chair Vietnam.

The leaders will take stock of the 10-member grouping's economic integration process and discuss how to ensure economic recovery stay on track.

They are also expected to issue a statement on "Sustainability of Regional Economic Recovery".

2009 was a challenging year for ASEAN as the grouping battled the economic downturn and stayed relevant amidst internal problems faced by the last chair, Thailand.

Observers said it is now time for the grouping to consolidate and focus on the tasks ahead.

Professor Simon Tay, chairman of Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said: ".....the growth rates in India and China are still much higher than in ASEAN and ASEAN would need to raise its game, otherwise its relevance in the future is really in question."

ASEAN leaders are also expected to take stock of the member countries' efforts to tackle the global challenge of climate change. They are expected to issue a joint response on how ASEAN intends to address this issue.

ASEAN will also emphasise its resolve to deal with climate change and expects the global community to do the same.

Professor Tay said: "In terms of Indonesia, particularly, the deforestation and land use changes would make its climate-change emissions one of the highest in the world.

"As for the ASEAN economies, the Asian Development Bank report showed that all of them would be impacted, (and) not just Singapore, (it being) a low-lying island.

"It is important for ASEAN to stand up and say to the world that we as a group of countries expect the global community to move ahead. We want a good outcome, we are not afraid of dealing with climate change. In fact, we are more concerned if climate change is not addressed by the global community including ASEAN."

ASEAN leaders will also be briefed on the progress on enhancing the group's inter-connectivity through the different modes of transportation.

- CNA/ir