UN talks set road map for Kyoto beyond 2012 by UN News / Reuters / BBC / Bloomberg / IPS 11:20am 8th Dec, 2005   Montreal, Dec 10, 2005    "UN talks set road map for Kyoto beyond 2012", by David Fogarty and Mary Milliken.(Reuters)    Environment ministers agreed on Saturday to a road map to extend the Kyoto Protocol climate pact beyond 2012, breaking two weeks of deadlock at UN talks aimed at curbing global warming.    Ministers also agreed to launch new, open-ended world talks on ways to fight climate change that will include Kyoto outsiders such as the United States and developing nations. Washington had long resisted taking part in the talks.    "This is a watershed in the fight against climate change," European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told reporters of the accords after talks that dragged on till nearly dawn. The conference was attended by 10,000 delegates. "There is still a harsh road in front of us," Dimas said about the long-term drive to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases released by burning fossil fuels and blamed for heating the atmosphere and oceans.    Environment activists cheered, hugged and some even cried after the delegates passed what they hailed as historic decisions to brake catastrophic changes ranging from desertification to rising sea levels.    "There were many potential points at this meeting when the world could have given up due to the tactics of the Bush administration and others but it did not," said Jennifer Morgan, climate change expert at the WWF conservation group.    The United States, the world"s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, pulled out of Kyoto in 2001, saying a fixation on emissions targets would harm economic growth, a view challenged on Friday in Montreal by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.    Washington agreed to join the open-ended dialogue only after Canada and the European Union watered down the text and spelled out that it would not lead to formal negotiations or commitments or the type of emissions caps enshrined in Kyoto.    "The text that was adopted recognises the diversity of approaches," said U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson.    Washington favours voluntary measures and big investments in technology like hydrogen or carbon storage. Other countries are seeking to engage Washington for the long haul, hoping President George W. Bush"s successor will be less sceptical of UN-led action on the environment.    The Montreal talks followed a twin track -- one pursuing negotiations to advance Kyoto and the other under the broader UN Framework Convention on Climate Convention, Kyoto"s parent treaty ratified by Washington.    "We are delighted," said Margaret Beckett, environment secretary for Britain, head of the rotating European Union presidency.    Stephane Dion, Canada"s environment minister and chair of the Montreal talks, was relieved. "Finally, we have achieved what many claimed was unattainable," he told delegates at the final session. "Facing the worst ecological threat to humanity, you have said: the world is united, and together, step by step, we will win this fight," he said.    The Kyoto decision urges rich nations to decide, as early as possible, new commitments for the period starting in 2013 so that there is a seamless transition when the current phase ends in 2012. Beckett said that this would reassure traders in carbon dioxide markets.    Under Kyoto, about 40 industrialised nations have to cut their emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012. But developing countries, such as China and India, have no targets under Kyoto and say that rich industrial states -- having fuelled their economies with coal, oil and gas since the Industrial Revolution -- have to take the lead in cutting emissions.    The agreement on a Kyoto renewal road map gives members seven years to negotiate and ratify accords by the time the first phase ends in 2012. Most countries agree that deeper cuts will be needed to avoid climate chaos in coming decades.    Global warming is widely blamed on a build-up of gases from burning fossil fuels in power plants, cars and factories.    With the talks over, a huge sigh of relief swept through the vast conference hall after a 20-hour session that left delegates exhausted and a little emotional. Some environmentalists said the Montreal talks would have profound consequences for humanity.    "At 6.17 this morning, (Dion) brought down the gavel on a set of agreements that may well save the planet," said Elizabeth May of the Sierra Club of Canada.    7 December 2005    Bold, creative action to stem climate change is needed now, Fréchette says. (UN News)    Citing evidence of climate change “all around us,” from declining Arctic ice to increasingly frequent extreme weather, with looming threats ranging from species extinction to human health hazards, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette today called for “bold, creative” global action in response.    “The science is solid. The threat is clear. Yet our response is failing to meet the challenge,” she told the high-level segment of the UN Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) conference in Montreal, Canada, which is seeking to draw up an action plan for the period after 2012, when the Kyoto protocol on reducing greenhouse gases expires.    “This is science, not science fiction,” she added referring to the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Their authoritative assessment suggests that climate change is happening, that human activities are among the main contributing factors, and that we cannot wait any longer to take action. Indeed, the longer we wait, the higher the costs.”    Listing the evidence, which also includes retreating glaciers, and the “equally disconcerting” future projections of rising seas and diminishing agricultural yields in many areas, Ms. Fréchette called for a framework that embraces action by all nations beyond 2012.    “I urge all industrialized countries to intensify their efforts to bring emissions well below 1990 levels, thus paving the way for action in the developing world,” she said. She also acknowledged that no matter how much is done to cut emissions, the build-up has already been enough to make some climate change inevitable. “Therefore we will need to adapt to climate change,” she added, noting that suction actions as building flood walls and planting crops suited to warmer temperatures could soften the impact.    While the private sector has a vital part to play, it is first and foremost the job of governments to set the wheels in motion, she said, calling on industrialized countries which are responsible for most of current global greenhouse gas emissions to take the lead.    “The world is on a perilous course. We are, in effect carrying out an uncontrolled experiment with the global climate, which involves serious risks for ecosystems, economies and human health,” she concluded. Urging participants to be “bold and creative,” she warned: “There is really no time to lose.”    7 December 2005    2005 sets record for weather-related disasters, UN climate conference told.    This year witnessed the largest financial losses ever as a result of weather-related natural disasters linked by many to human action, more than $200 billion compared to $145 billion in 2004, the previous record, according to statistics presented to the United Nations Climate Change Conference currently meeting in Montreal, Canada.    “It is vital that, before this meeting ends, Governments send a clear signal to business, industry and the people of the world that they are determined to continue the battle to curb global warming,” UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Klaus Toepfer told the conference yesterday.    “The best form of adaptation is to reduce the world’s emissions by embracing a revolution in the way we use rather than abuse energy and by dramatically boosting energy efficiency and using technologies and techniques already available or at our finger tips,” he said of the statistics drawn up the Munich Re Foundation, part of one of the world’s leading re-insurance companies.    This year’s figures, partly as a result of the highest number of hurricanes or tropical storms ever seen since records began in 1850, are part of a climbing trend being linked by many in the industry with climate change as a result of human-made emissions.    Insurance industry experts point to growing scientific evidence, including studies in the journal Nature, which indicate that major tropical storms in the Atlantic and Pacific have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 per cent since the 1970s.    The year was also marked by the highest ever rainfall recorded in India (in Mumbai), the first ever hurricane to emerge that approached Europe, and the appearance of the strongest hurricane on record.    “There is a powerful indication from these figures that we are moving from predictions of the likely impacts of climate change to proof that it is already fully underway,” Munich Re Foundation chief executive Thomas Loster, said.    “Above all, these are humanitarian tragedies and show us that, as a result of our impacts on the climate, we are making people and communities everywhere more vulnerable to weather-related natural disasters,” he added, noting that economic losses due to atmospheric-linked disasters showed a far stronger trend than those due to earthquakes for the years 1950 to 2004.    Montreal, Dec 7, 2005    “U.S. comes under pressure at climate talks”, by David Fogarty and Timothy Gardner. (Reuters)    The European Union and host Canada piled pressure on the United States on Wednesday to join an international pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions and limit the predicted chaos from global warming.    But the United States defended its policy of investing billions of dollars in cleaner technology to reduce emissions, brushing aside calls for it to commit to long-term U.N. discussions on slowing climate change.    Environment ministers from more than 90 countries met to try to break a deadlock over how to launch talks to entice the United States and big developing nations like India and China to join a system that cuts production of greenhouse gases.    "There is absolutely no excuse for any more delay in action," Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin told the meeting, urging the United States and other skeptical nations to "listen to the conscience of the world." The EU also called for more action.    Adding a sense of urgency to the talks is extreme weather, including Hurricane Katrina, the world"s costliest weather-related disaster, which scientists warn could be a portent of things to come.    At the heart of the Montreal meeting is how to cut emissions after 2012, when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol climate change pact ends. Washington has rejected the pact, saying mandatory emissions cuts would harm its economy.    The U.S. stance has angered many countries and green groups that back Kyoto, who contend that while the pact was flawed because it excludes developing nations in the 2008-12 first phase, it is still be best mechanism in existence.    "We will continue to talk to our American partners and remind them of their commitments," European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told reporters. He said U.S. President George W. Bush agreed at a summit of eight leading industrial nations in July and at a U.N. summit in September to advance global discussions in Montreal on long-term cooperation to curb climate change.    Canada has proposed two-year talks looking at ways to involve all countries in tackling climate change. But the US has dismissed the idea, saying Washington does not support anything that leads to formal targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The United States is the source of a quarter of all greenhouse gases produced from burning fossil fuels.    Green groups are also angry by the lack of progress. "Climate change is not about bureaucrats scurrying around. It"s about people, about families, about children," said Sheila Watt-Cloutier, an Inuit indigenous leader who says a thaw in the Arctic ice is undermining hunting cultures.    About 160 members have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which binds about 40 industrial nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. Many countries, including Canada, are way above their targets at the moment.    Many officials at the conference say formalizing commitments to cut carbon dioxide emissions will mean a huge economic shift, particularly for rapidly growing developing nations, who say cleaning up could limit growth. Rich nations should be taking the lead, developing nations say.    Most scientists say a build-up of heat-trapping gases from fossil fuels burned in power plants, factories and cars is warming the planet and could herald catastrophic changes such as a rise in sea levels spurred by melting icecaps.    7 December 2005    UN climate talks enter key phase. (BBC News)    Environment ministers from around the world are trying to break a deadlock over climate change policy, at a major UN conference in Montreal.    Ministers want to agree a deal to tackle global warming that includes the US and developing nations.    Some countries are refusing to limit their greenhouse gas emissions after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. "There is an urgent need to send a signal to the world about the future," conference chairman Stephane Dion said.    The US is not a Kyoto signatory. It says it is serious on climate change, but is still resisting targets and is instead pursuing a policy of voluntary reductions through use of new technology. Along with many developing nations, its fears its implementation of the Kyoto Protocol could harm development and economic growth.    Mr Dion, Canada"s environment minister, has proposed a wider discussion of what various countries might be prepared to do after 2012. This would run alongside negotiations on new, more stringent carbon reduction targets for industrialised nations. The response appears to have been generally positive, with China and Australia - which rejected the Kyoto limits - said to be among those supporting the move.    But India, some of the major oil producing nations and the US - the world"s largest carbon emitter - do not seem to have been won over, says the BBC"s Elizabeth Blunt in Montreal.    Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said environmental changes to Canada"s north proved that urgent action was needed. "The time is past to debate the impact of climate change. We no longer need to ask people to imagine its effects, for now we can see them," he said.    In a video address to delegates, French President Jacques Chirac said climate change was "a brutal and urgent reality, the most serious threat weighing on the future of humanity".    Meanwhile, a leading US climate scientist has warned that the world has just one decade to get to grips with climate change. Dr James Hansen told a meeting of American Geophysical Union in San Francisco that just 1C more of warming would take the Earth into climate patterns it has not experienced for more than 500,000 years. But determined action on energy efficiency to bring about reductions in greenhouse gas emission could lead to some stabilisation, he said.    Dec. 7    Canada urges U.S., Australia to fight Climate Change. (Bloomberg)    Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin called on the U.S., Australia and other industrial nations that produce the biggest portion of the world"s greenhouse gases to do more to mitigate climate change.    Martin, speaking at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Montreal, criticized nations such as the U.S. that minimize the importance of climate change.    U.S. President George W. Bush, who in 2001 rejected the binding emission limits of the Kyoto Protocol, has stymied those who seek more regulation of greenhouse gases.    `Climate change is a global challenge that demands a global response, yet there are nations that resist, voices that attempt to diminish the urgency, dismiss the science or declare, either in word or in indifference, that this is not our problem to solve, Martin said. `Well, let me tell you it is our problem to solve. We are in this together.    About 10,000 representatives from nearly 200 countries have gathered in Montreal for the largest meeting on climate change since Kyoto. The meeting seeks to plan for a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Canada is one of the countries that signed the accord.    `To the reticent nations, including the U.S., I would say this: There is such a thing as a global conscience and now is the time to listen to it, Martin told reporters after his speech.    Countries must do everything in their power to curb climate change because the consequences of not doing anything would be far worse, Martin said.    `Here in Canada, our Far North has become an incubator for the altered world of tomorrow, he said. ``The country we know is being transformed, he said. `There is plant life where before there was none. There is water where before there was ice. Our permafrost is thawing and releasing methane gas into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change itself.    December 7, 2005    "2005 Costliest Year for Extreme Weather", by Jim Lobe. (Inter Press Service)    The world has suffered more than 200 billion dollars in economic losses as a result of weather-related natural disasters over the past year, making 2005 the costliest year on record, according to preliminary estimates released Tuesday by the Munich Re Foundation at the international climate conference in Montreal.    These damages significantly exceeded the previous record of 145 billion dollars set in 2004, according to the Foundation, which is part of Munich Re, one of several leading re-insurance companies that have warned repeatedly over the past decade that global warming posed serious threats to the world"s economy.    Of the more than 200 billion dollars in losses this year, more than 70 billion dollars was covered by insurance companies, compared to some 45 billion dollars in damages last year, according to the Foundation.    It said most losses resulted from the unprecedented number and intensity of hurricanes in 2005, particularly Wilma, which hit Mexico"s Yucatan Peninsula; and Katrina, which overwhelmed New Orleans and other coastal areas in the U.S. states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Alabama.    Wilma, the strongest-ever hurricane, according to records dating back to 1850, caused an estimated 15 billion dollars in economic losses, of which about 10 billion dollars was insured, according to the Foundation.    Damages caused by Katrina, the sixth strongest hurricane on record, were significantly greater, however. Estimated losses come to more than 125 billion, of which more than 30 billion dollars was insured, the Foundation said.    "There is a powerful indication from these figures that we are moving from predictions of the likely impacts of climate change to proof that it is already fully underway," said Thomas Loster, the Foundation"s director, who added that policy-makers should not only be concerned about the staggering economic loss.    "Above all, these are humanitarian tragedies that show us that, as a result of our impacts on the climate, we are making people and communities everywhere more vulnerable to weather-related natural disasters," he said.    Loster released the Foundation"s report at the ongoing 11th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Climate Change Convention, which is addressing what the international community should do after the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol, the agreement by the world"s industrialised countries, with the exception of the United States and Australia, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by about seven percent below 1990 levels by 2012.    Most scientists believe that emissions are the main cause of global warming and that they will have to be reduced by 60 percent or more in order to stabilise the atmosphere.    While scientists insist that the increases in financial losses caused by storms may not necessarily be linked to global warming -- increasing populations and economic development in vulnerable coastal areas may be far more important -- a growing number agree that warming is becoming an increasingly significant factor.    Such a notion is bolstered by the occurrence of other highly unusual or even unprecedented weather events recorded during the past year. These suggest the Earth"s climate is changing in ways that are generally consistent with predictions by sophisticated computer models about the likely impact of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that have been pumped into the atmosphere in ever-increasing quantities since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.    Hurricane Vince, for example, was the first hurricane on record to approach Europe, making landfall in Spain in October. It was the easternmost and northernmost appearance of an Atlantic hurricane on record, effectively mirroring the appearance of Hurricane Catarina off Brazil in March 2004. Catarina was the first hurricane in the South Atlantic on record.    Similarly, at the end of November, Tropical Storm Delta hit the Canary Islands to devastating effect. It was the first tropical storm to ever hit the islands.    And in July, a weather station in Mumbai recorded 944 mm of rain in 24 hours, the greatest and most intense precipitation event ever recorded in India.    The number of tropical storms broke all records in 2005, according to the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. As of last week, there had been 26 storms, or five more than the previous record of 21. Of the 26, 16 reached hurricane force.    Scientific models have predicted an increase in the intensity of storms as the atmosphere -- and the temperatures of the seas -- became warmer. Tropical storms and hurricanes derive most of their energy from warm waters.    While scientists agree that it is impossible to link global warming to the frequency and intensity of hurricanes over a one- or two-year period, recent studies have shown that storms have indeed become more intense over the past several decades.    In August, for example, Kerry Emanuel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a paper in the British scientific weekly Nature which found that hurricanes in the Atlantic and North Pacific had roughly doubled in power over 30 years.    In September, a group of meteorologists published a study in Science weekly which found that, while the frequency of hurricanes had significantly increased over the past 35 years, the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes - the most powerful - had increased by 80 percent over that period.    To many scientists, these studies provide additional evidence of a link between warming seas, to which warmer atmospheric temperatures contribute, and hurricane intensity.    In his remarks to the climate conference, Loster stressed that economic losses attributable to weather-related disasters have risen much more steeply than those caused by earthquakes, according to records since 1950.    "We do not want to estimate the human tragedy of earthquakes like the recent one in Pakistan which can kill tens of thousands of people a year," he said. "But our findings indicate that it is the toll of weather-related disasters that are the ones on the rise."
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