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U.S. President
Obama to Attend Copenhagen Climate Talks on
Way to Oslo
Washington, Nov 30, (RHC).-
The White House has announced that President
Barack Obama will briefly attend the UN climate
summit in Copenhagen next week, near the
beginning of the two-week conference.
Obama will stop in Copenhagen on Wednesday,
December 9th, while on his way to pick up his
Nobel prize in Oslo. Obama is expected to
outline a plan for the United States to set a
provisional greenhouse gas emissions target for
2020 in the range of 17 percent below 2005
levels.
Yvo De Boer, the UN’s top climate official, said
the United States and other nations must take
action in Copenhagen. He told reporters: “In
just eleven days, the eyes of the world will be
trained on Copenhagen to witness what I believe
will be an historic turning point in the fight
against climate change. And there is no 'Plan B'
for Copenhagen, only 'Plan A' -- and 'Plan A'
stands for action.”
The UN official said that unseasonable storms in
Asia and Latin America and protracted drought in
Africa are already seriously harming people in
the developing world, emphasizing that "success
at Copenhagen will put the world on a safe, low-emissions
growth path."
Yvo De Boer also said the United States and
other wealthy nations have a key role to play at
the Copenhagen talks. "Rich countries must put
at least ten billion dollars a year on the table
to kick-start immediate action up to 2012. And
they must list what each country will provide
and how funds will be raised to deliver very
large, stable and predictable finance going into
the future without constantly having to
renegotiate those sums every few years.
Particularly the more than 100 least developed
countries are entirely dependent on finance to
adapt and reduce their emissions.”
Caribbean Countries
Issue Declaration on Climate Change
PORT OF SPAIN,
Trinidad and Tobago.— The final declaration
of the representatives of the Caribbean
countries attending the Summit on Climate Change
held in this city, stressed the urgent necessity
of preserving the planet and its ecosystems.
According to
Prensa Latina news agency,
the document ratifies a previous agreement on
this issue, which will be the main theme to
debate at the Copenhagen Conference, to take
place in December.
The participants
proposed the creation of a ten billion dollar
fund to help underdeveloped nations face the
effects of climate change.
Many of these
countries could partially or completely lose
their territories as a consequence of the rise
in sea level.
These countries
are also greatly concerned about sea pollution,
which is the main cause of the destruction of
their coral reefs, and some of their fundamental
economic activities such as fishing and tourism. |
