BINDING TARGETS FOR GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION MUST BE ADOPTED IN KYOTO, JAPAN TELLS ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL COMMITTEE

7 November 1997

Press Release
GA/EF/2788

BINDING TARGETS FOR GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION MUST BE ADOPTED IN KYOTO, JAPAN TELLS ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL COMMITTEE

19971107 Says December Meeting Should Commit to Global Warming Prevention; Failure to Implement Agenda 21, Protection of Island States Also Addressed

An agreement based on legally binding, realistic and equitable targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases must be adopted by the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the representative of Japan told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) this morning.

The Committee was continuing its consideration of a cluster of items concerning the environment and sustainable development, including: the protection of the global climate; the Convention on Biological Diversity; and the implementation of the outcome of the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

Japan's representative called for the full cooperation of all participating countries in assuring a successful outcome to the Conference, which will be held in December in Kyoto. The international community should adopt a pragmatic approach in its deliberations and not aim for an ideal outcome, which, if it failed to secure the full cooperation of all principal partners, would not be effective, he said. The outcome should be the commitment by all countries to prevent global warming from occurring in the next century.

Instead of moving toward the objectives set out by the Framework Convention, the international community was moving farther away from them, the representative of China said. The Convention already concluded that the developed countries bore the primary responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Conference should adopt effective measures to spur developed countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to the targeted level.

Second Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/EF/2788 32nd Meeting (AM) 7 November 1997

The major polluters were attempting to discredit the fundamental principles of the Convention on Climate Change by asking developing countries to make new commitments regarding greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, the representative of Brazil said. Yet those countries were already effective participants in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent study by the World Resources Institute. Developing countries were implementing an array of fiscal, industrial and technological policies, which were resulting in effective change.

The representative of Papua New Guinea said the General Assembly's special session that reviewed the implementation of Agenda 21 could have easily been called "Rio minus five". The session had been disappointing and had compromised the global partnership that was forged at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The participants failed to adopt a strong political declaration, and no consensus had emerged on specific binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Statements were also made by the representatives of New Zealand, Jamaica, Australia, Turkey, and Maldives, as well as the observer for Switzerland.

The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. today to continue its consideration of protection of global climate, Convention on Biological Diversity and implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

Committee Work Programme

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to continue its consideration, under the general heading "environment and sustainable development", of protection of the global climate for present and future generations of mankind; the Convention on Biological Diversity; and the implementation of the outcome of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Barbados, 1994). (For background information see press release GA/EF/2787 of 6 November 1997.)

Statements

MICHAEL POWLES (New Zealand) said a successful outcome at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change should lay the foundation for a durable and sustainable response to climate change. A key element of that foundation must be the provision for mechanisms in the Conference's outcome which kept the costs of achieving emission reductions to a minimum. The international community must recognize the overall impact of human activity on the climate system, by taking into account all greenhouse gases and the role of sinks, such as forests, in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The developed countries must take the first steps in addressing climate change, but the truly global nature of that phenomenon meant that global solutions would ultimately be required.

His Government was an active and committed participant in the ongoing work of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its various subsidiary bodies, he said. The Convention had grown quickly into a mature, independent and authoritative global forum for debate on biodiversity issues. It seemed increasingly incongruous that the Second Committee made pronouncements on the work of the Convention. For that and other reasons, New Zealand believed that the Committee should seriously consider working toward a single omnibus resolution on the environment conventions at the fifty-third session of the General Assembly.

DAVID PRENDERGAST (Jamaica), speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said the development of the vulnerability index for small island developing States was of great importance. The CARICOM members reiterated the need to complete the exercise in a timely manner, as Caribbean small island developing States continued to be graduated out of concessional funding, while facing challenges unique to their smallness and vulnerability. Those countries continued to face harsh economic and environmental realities, which threatened their very survival.

Sustainable development was a priority of CARICOM members, he said. Those countries had committed themselves to a coordinated regional approach to sustainable development policy formulation and implementation. They would promote within CARICOM the development and greater coordination of regional programmes and activities in such areas as environment, disaster management,

Second Committee - 3 - Press Release GA/EF/2788 32nd Meeting (AM) 7 November 1997

settlements management, meteorological services, renewable energy and science and technology infrastructure building. The community also needed external assistance for building the requisite infrastructure and for national capacity building, including human and institutional capacity.

NOBUAKI ITO (Japan) said the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto had a major task: to adopt an agreement committing the international community to prevent global warming from occurring in the next century. It was essential to reach an agreement based on legally binding, meaningful, realistic and equitable targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases. His Government called for the full cooperation of all participating countries in assuring a successful outcome of the Conference. The international community should adopt a pragmatic approach in its deliberations and not aim for an ideal outcome, which, if it failed to secure the full cooperation of all principal partners, was likely to be less than effective.

He said his Government actively participated in the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, held in Barbados in 1994. Such States were vulnerable to the threat posed by many global environmental problems, and the international community should continue to pay special attention to the development of those States. His Government attached importance to strengthening its relations with Caribbean States. A regular forum for consultation had been established in the form of an annual Japan-CARICOM Consultation Meeting. At the fifth meeting, held earlier this year in Barbados, the Japanese private sector participated for the first time and discussed ways to increase trade and investment.

ENIO CORDEIRO (Brazil) said it was disheartening that developing countries were being asked to make new commitments with regard to greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. That was a clear attempt by the major polluters to discredit the fundamental principles of the Convention on climate change. That attempt rested on the faulty assumption that developing countries were making no efforts to address climate change. Nothing could be further from the truth. According to a recent study by the World Resources Institute, developing countries were already effective participants in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They were doing that through an array of price, fiscal, industrial and technological policies, which were leading to effective changes in their energy matrix.

Joint implementation schemes for the climate change Convention tended to shift the responsibility to developing countries. In practice, it authorized an increase in to developed countries emissions. Cooperation between developing and developed countries to effectively address the issue of climate change should be better promoted under the relevant section of the Convention, which set specific objectives for cooperation in the technological field.

Second Committee - 4 - Press Release GA/EF/2788 32nd Meeting (AM) 7 November 1997

AMANDA HAWKINS (Australia) said her Government was committed to working towards the sustainable development issues for small island States. It would continue to support implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action and had already implemented and incorporated Barbados priorities in development assistance programmes. Her Government endorsed the decision by the Commission on Sustainable Development to hold a special session to conduct a review of the Barbados Programme of Action, which would provide an opportunity for the international community to focus global attention on small island developing States. Her Government had assisted in building the capabilities of small island developing States and recognized the threats that climate change posed to them.

Her country had instituted a wide range of domestic measures to reduce emissions growth and was playing an active role in the development of a new international climate change agreement, she said. The international community should seek an outcome that was both realistic and achievable. Her Government strongly advocated negotiations on differentiated targets and there should be equitable efforts by all countries that entered into the agreement. The phenomenon of climate change could only be addressed effectively if it was addressed by all members of the international community.

BURAK OZUGERGIN (Turkey) said the importance of making the protection of nature a national priority was often blurred in countries with a high rate of population growth. Industrialization, urbanization, excessive grazing, destruction of forests, erosion and tourism had exerted severe pressure on biological diversity. His Government had ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity with a view to protecting its treasure of flora and fauna. Campaigns designed to raise public and private awareness and, through that, limit the loss of biodiversity were running at a scale not before seen in Turkey.

Reaffirming its opposition to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, he said Turkey wished to be excluded from its annexes. Those annexes specifically excluded developed countries that had completed their industrialization process, as well as economies in transition to which appropriate assistance was envisaged. Including Turkey in those annexes created responsibilities that it could not at present undertake. Commitments should be based on equity and fairness, taking into account the differentiated and individual circumstances of the parties concerned. His country had not caused pollution to the same extent as the other annex countries. It was not currently causing pollution at their levels and would not be causing as much pollution in the foreseeable future.

ADAM DELANEY (Papua New Guinea) said the special session on the implementation of Agenda 21 had been disappointing. It threw into limbo the question of the global partnership that was forged at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and the participants failed to adopt a strong political declaration. Only time would demonstrate if the

Second Committee - 5 - Press Release GA/EF/2788 32nd Meeting (AM) 7 November 1997

Intergovernmental Forum on Forests would produce a major breakthrough, besides the voluntary implementation of the Forest Principles and the Programme of Action. His Government was disappointed that no consensus had emerged on specific binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The special session could have easily been "Rio minus five" if it had not been for certain national success stories and the work achieved by certain groups.

His Government welcomed efforts through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for financial and technical assistance to meet its commitments under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, he said. Yet, it was alarmed by the activities of certain groups in the United States that had spent $13 million on propaganda, which only affirmed their unwillingness to stop excess consumption. That $13 million could have been better spent on development assistance. His Government feared that the Conference of the Parties to the Convention might be pressed to adopt a weak legally binding protocol in Kyoto.

His country remained committed to the Barbados Programme for Action as an integral part of Agenda 21, he said. His Government also expressed appreciation to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its work in small island developing States. Any reforms of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) should be guided by the Nairobi Declaration, and there was no needed for another institution to guide international efforts already taken by UNEP. It was an institution that stood on its own merit. There was no need to merge UNEP with another centre that would compromise its independence.

CHEN BAI (China) said worsening greenhouse gas emissions should be seen by the international community as a warning signal. Instead of moving towards the objectives set out by the climate change Convention, the international community was moving farther away from them. Concrete and effective implementation of the commitments in the Convention constituted a prerequisite for the attainment of its objectives. The forthcoming Kyoto Conference should adopt effective measures to spur developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the targeted level.

Addressing the demand by some developed countries that developing countries share in the commitments to cut emissions, she said it represented no less than a flagrant distortion of the principles embodied in the Convention. The Convention already drew the conclusion that the developed countries had the primary responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. At present, the per capita energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of the developing countries barely met their basic needs for economic and social development.

AISHATH SHUWEIKAR (Maldives) said everyone had a role in halting climate change and reversing the phenomenon of global warming. Futile polemics should be avoided and industrialized as well as developing countries should work together to avert global warming. While many countries had shown a

Second Committee - 6 - Press Release GA/EF/2788 32nd Meeting (AM) 7 November 1997

willingness to adopt well-meaning targets, sufficient steps had not been taken to sign, ratify and adhere to documents adopted at several conferences, particularly Agenda 21.

For her Government, and many other small island developing States, the Barbados Conference was an important follow-up to Agenda 21, she said. Yet, it was also characteristic of the many false hopes since the Rio Conference. Nothing had been done to achieve additional resource mobilization for the implementation of Agenda 21. That inaction produced anxiety. The Maldives was a group of 11,990 low lying islands scattered over an area of 90,000 square kilometres, and the highest natural land point was only two meters. A small rise in the water level would submerge all the islands. Climate change could also lead to more frequent and severe storms and higher waves. It was no consolation that the Maldives would not be the sole victim of such a phenomenon.

The Conference in Kyoto was an historic opportunity for the international community to agree on legally binding and effective targets to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases to sustainable levels, she said. Her Government would find it hard to accept a target below the 20 per cent reduction level by the year 2005, as contained in the Protocol of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

LIVIA LEU AGOSTI, observer for Switzerland, said civil society, as well as non-governmental organizations, must participate in the implementation of environmental programmes. The protection of natural resources had long been a commitment of her country. Industrialized countries must undertake a commitment in Kyoto to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. They should seek to introduce technologies that had fewer greenhouse emissions and they should change their energy consumption patterns.

She welcomed the transfer of responsibility for the prevention of natural disasters from the Coordinator of the Bureau for Emergency Relief, at present under the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, to the United Nations Development Programme. Such a step seemed logical, she said, for it allowed the Coordinator to focus more on his or her basic task, which was coordination of disaster relief. Switzerland hoped that the UNDP would keep the programmes in Geneva.

* *** *