Climate talks open on ever-rising emissions – China ‘not very optimistic’
DURBAN, South Africa, November 28 (AP) – Global warming already is causing suffering and conflict in Africa, from drought in Sudan and Somalia to flooding in South Africa, President Jacob Zuma said Monday, urging delegates at an international climate conference to look beyond national interests for solutions [United Nations Climate Change Conference 2011]. “For most people in the developing countries and Africa, climate change is a matter of life and death,” said the South African leader as he formally opened a two-week conference with participants from 191 countries and the European Union. The conference is seeking ways to curb ever-rising emissions of climate-changing pollution, which scientists said last week have reached record levels of concentration in the atmosphere. Seasoned nongovernment observers said the outcome of the conference, which ends Dec. 9, is among the most unpredictable since the annual all-nation meetings began following the conclusion in 1992 of the basic treaty on climate change. “Everything seems to be fluid. Everything is in play,” said Tasneem Essop, of WWF International. The main point of contention is whether industrial countries will extend their commitments to further reduce carbon emissions after their current commitments expire next year. Most wealthy countries have said their agreement is conditional on developing countries like China, India and Brazil accepting that they, too, must accept legally binding restrictions on their own emissions. Zuma said Sudan’s drought is partly responsible for tribal wars there, and that drought and famine have driven people from their homes in Somalia. Floods along the South African coast have cost people their homes and jobs, he said. “Change and solutions are always possible. In these talks, states, parties, will need to look beyond their national interests to find a solution for the common good and human benefit,” he said. The U.N.’s top climate official, Christiana Figueres, said future commitments by industrial countries to slash greenhouse gas emissions is “the defining issue of this conference.” But she said that is linked to pledges that developing countries must make to join the fight against climate change. She quoted anti-apartheid legend and former President Nelson Mandela: “It always seems impossible until it is done.” […]
Climate talks open on ever-rising emissions
By Wan Xu and Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Sugita Katyal
28 November 2011 BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s chief negotiator for climate change talks is “not very optimistic” about the results of global climate talks in Durban, state radio reported on Monday. Countries will make a last ditch effort to save a dying Kyoto Protocol at global climate talks starting on Monday aimed at cutting the greenhouse gas emissions blamed by scientists for rising sea levels, intense storms and crop failures. Major parties have been at loggerheads for years about the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005. The agreement commits most developed states to binding emissions targets. The talks are the last chance to set another round of targets before the first commitment period ends in 2012. “Now the prospects are not very optimistic,” Chinese negotiator Su Wei told state radio, without elaborating. “However, at least in developed countries, the European Union has expressed willingness to consider the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.” The report said that there were widespread differences among the parties. Envoys said there may be a political deal struck with a new set of binding targets, but only the European Union, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Switzerland are likely to sign up at best. Any accord depends on China and the United States, the world’s top emitters, agreeing binding action under a wider deal by 2015, something both have resisted for years. China, the world’s top carbon emitter, is unwilling to make any commitments until Washington does while Russia, Japan and Canada say they will not sign up to a second commitment period unless the biggest emitters do too.
