BANGKOK (AFP) —
Outraged poor nations bearing the brunt of global warming have become
increasingly bold in UN-led climate talks, but some worry that recent
trysts of large countries are leaving them out in the cold.
A grouping of 192 countries under the United Nations is leading the way
in negotiating a groundbreaking climate change treaty, and most of its
members are currently in Bangkok to try to hammer out a two-year work
plan.
The meeting comes soon after the United States chaired a meeting of 16
nations most responsible for global warming, and ahead of a special
climate summit on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit of rich
nations.
"We haven't been invited to either of those processes," said Espen
Ronneberg, a Samoa-based climate change advisor to the Association of
Small Island States, on the sidelines of the Bangkok talks.
"We need to have a global consensus on climate change, so to have a
separate process that is not completely inclusive is not that helpful."
While major developing nations such as China and India are part of the
big initiatives, the Group of 77, a bloc of developing nations, said it
has not been invited.
"The balance has to come from everybody, all the representative groups,
being around the table. Not specialised specific groups which have
almost the same purpose -- that's a problem," said Byron Blake, deputy
representative to the United Nations of current Group of 77 chair
Antigua and Barbuda.
The world has until 2009 to draft a new pact on battling global
warming, which should come into force by 2012, when current Kyoto
Protocol targets for rich nations to slash greenhouse gas emissions
expire.
A report by the world's leading climate scientists last year warned
that drought, floods and storms will increase as global temperatures
rise, putting the health of millions at risk and hitting the poor
countries hardest.
As they see climate change begin to effect their environments and
economies, impoverished nations are becoming more confident and vocal,
said Antonio Hill, policy adviser to development group Oxfam.
"There is a very dramatic difference between this year and last year in
the negotiations versus 10 years ago or even five years ago," he said.
Developing countries want the rich world to commit to the most
ambitious cuts in greenhouse gas emissions -- which trap the sun's heat
and cause global warming -- and pledge to transfer 'green' technologies
and fund climate change-battling initiatives in poorer countries.
Many rich nations led by the United States, however, are pressing for
developing countries also to commit to slashing emissions. They argue
that the lines have blurred between rich and poor nations, with China
expected soon to be the world's top emitter.
US President George W. Bush launched his own climate initiative
gathering 16 large nations responsible for 80 percent of harmful
emissions, which met two months ago in Hawaii.
Japan, meanwhile, will hold separate talks on the sidelines of the G8
meeting in July, and has invited Australia, Brazil, China, India,
Indonesia, Mexico, South Korea and South Africa to join the G8 nations.
In mid-March, Japan hosted to a 20-nation climate meeting in suburban
Tokyo.
The UN's climate chief Yvo de Boer told AFP that the new initiatives
could be very constructive, so long as they feed back into the UN-led
efforts.
"The (US-led) major economies process and the outcome of the G8 meeting
last year very clearly recognises that there is only one place where
the real negotiations happen and that's the (UN) Convention on Climate
Change," he said.
Blake urged big polluters to listen to all of the voices from the
developing world, rather than focus on exclusive sideline initiatives.
"It is almost a defensive move by a club of people who have been the
cause of the major problems," Blake told AFP.
"Naturally they are going to see how to create a so-called solution
which will have least impact on themselves, where they have to make the
least contribution," he added.
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