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Island Nations Demand Near-Total Greenhouse-Gas Cuts Share
By Alex Morales
March 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S., Europe and Japan must eliminate almost all of their greenhouse-gas emissions to avoid swamping low-lying nations as warming weather spawns rising seas, a coalition of 43 islands said.
Developed countries must agree to slash emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases that trap the sun’s heat more than 95 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels as part of a new global warming treaty, the group said on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Web site.
As the Earth warms, ocean waters expand and glaciers and ice caps melt, causing sea levels to rise. Countries including the Maldives and Kiribati have already said they’re considering buying land abroad to relocate their people should their countries become uninhabitable.
“Efforts consistent with a 2-degree temperature increase compared to pre-industrial levels, as have been proposed by many parties, would have devastating consequences,” said the paper, submitted on behalf of the alliance by Grenada. “The avoidance of further negative impacts on small island developing states must be one of the key benchmarks for assessing the adequacy of any global long-term emission-reduction goal.”
The proposed cuts would help ensure warming since the start of industrial times is kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), avoiding rising waters that may be “catastrophic” to islands, the bloc said. Global warming talks that start March 29 and end April 8 in Bonn are part of UN negotiations designed to broker a climate change agreement in December in Copenhagen.
Pleading for Survival
Sea levels rose by 17 centimeters (6 inches) last century and the UN forecasts a further gain of 18 to 59 centimeters by 2100. That would swamp parts of countries like the Maldives, with a maximum altitude of 3 meters (10 feet), and Tuvalu, most of which is below 2 meters above sea level.
The Maldives and Tuvalu were among countries that pleaded for their survival last December at UN climate talks in Poznan, Poland. Rising oceans, coastal erosion, the bleaching of corals, an increase in diseases and more instances of severe weather are all consequences of global warming that could devastate the countries, according to Grenada.
Developed nations must aim to cut emissions by 40 percent by 2020 in order to achieve the goal for 2050, the group said.
So far, the 27-nation European Union has said it will cut its emissions by 20 percent by 2030, with a 30-percent reduction contingent on other developed countries making comparable efforts.
The U.S., which didn’t sign the existing Kyoto Protocol treaty, has yet to make a formal pledge. President Barack Obama made an election pledge to bring U.S. emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: March 26, 2009 13:06 EDT
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