Worldwide efforts on tackling the worsening global warming issue
will go into top gear on Monday, with the opening of the 13th
session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC).
Over 180 countries, represented by some 10,000 delegates, will
take part in the conference on Dec. 3-14 in Bali, a resort island
of Indonesia.
The main purpose of the meeting is to begin negotiations for a
new climate change regime to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which
expires in 2012.
The meeting comes on the heels of a series of international
meetings which highlighted the global climate change problem, and a
scientific report of the Nobel-Winning Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), which warned that the impact of global
warming could be "abrupt or irreversible".
Therefore, the whole world pins high hopes on the Bali meeting
and expects breakthrough can be made at the meeting so as to get
negotiations going on a new international climate change
agreement.
Under the UNFCCC's principle of "common but differentiated
responsibilities", the developed nations should provide fund and
technical support for the developing world in a bid to fight global
warming.
At the 15th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Sydney, Australia, Chinese
President Hu Jintao also said that in tackling climate change,
helping others is helping oneself, and only cooperation can bring
about win-win progress. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the
UNFCCC has warned that the world would be "in deep trouble" if the
Bali meeting fails to make breakthrough.
The international community was fighting against time in a bid
to stem global warming, he said.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who will attend the Bali conference on
Dec. 12-14, was quoted as saying that "if we are to meet the
challenge of global warming, we need a new and comprehensive
agreement that all nations can embrace."
As time is running out, the international community needs to
resolve the differences on the issue and committed to a shared
vision and long-term common goals and actions to face the
challenges posed by global warming.
It is reported that in terms of historical emissions,
industrialized countries account for roughly 80 percent of the
carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere to date. Based on massive
evidence, the IPCC said humans were to blame for rising
temperatures. It warned that surging emissions of greenhouse gases,
emitted especially by the burning of oil, gas and coal, will warm
Earth's atmosphere. Mankind as a result would face wide-ranging
miseries such as crop failure, heatwave, rainstorms, drought,
floods, cyclones and rising sea levels.
It said all countries will be affected by climate change,
especially the poor nations, small island states and developing
economies.
Echoing the sounding alarm, climate change is on the top agenda
of the G-8 summit in Germany in June, a U.N. climate meeting in New
York in September, the APEC meeting in Sydney, the East Asian
Summit in Singapore and the Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting in Uganda in November.
From Europe to America, from Asia to Africa, the worldwide
attention to and awareness about climate change shed lights on hope
that the Bali conference may likely produce a roadmap for countries
to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol
expires.
The oust of Australian Prime Minister John Howard in the
elections, who is a staunch ally of U.S. President George W. Bush,
also raised hope for the supporters of the protocol. They said that
the election outcome would put more pressure on the United States
as Australian Prime Minister-elect Keven Rudd hopes parliament will
ratify the Kyoto Protocol as soon as possible.
The United States and Australia have rejected to ratify the
Kyoto protocol on the grounds that it did not commit developing
countries to the same sort of emissions cuts as industrialized
nations.
Although Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC, voiced his
optimism over a post-Kyoto Protocol roadmap for countries to reduce
their global warming emissions, U.N. chief's Special Envoy on
Climate Change Han Seung-Soo told Xinhua in an interview that he
expected no great breakthrough in the Bali conference.
"I don't expect to solve the climate change problem overnight,"
he said, adding "but we should at least start the roadmap, drawn by
all the participating members for the negotiations."
Martin Parry, co-chair of the IPCC, echoed the same pessimism,
saying that the world may have to wait until the Copenhagen summit
two years later before governments summon the political will to
budget.
"Bali would be the first step towards that," he said.
According to a U.N. report released on Nov. 27, developed
nations are failing to meet their targets under the Kyoto protocol
climate treaty, for cutting greenhouse gases by 2012.
Despite the scientific progress made in predicting how the
Earth's climate will change, and the massive political and public
awareness about the urgency of the issue, whether the Bali meeting
can produce a post-Kyoto Protocol roadmap remains in doubt. U.N.
spokesperson Michele Montas said that it is not expected that
representatives will walk away from the meeting with a new global
accord to succeed Kyoto. "But the Secretary-General would expect
them to agree to an agenda of issues and set a timetable for
reaching such an accord, before the Kyoto protocol expires in
2012."
(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2007)
