Feature story - December 19, 2007
The failure of climate change talks in Bali, Indonesia to produce hard emission reduction targets for greenhouse gases puts off for tomorrow what could have been done today, says Greenpeace Canada.
A flotilla of fishing boats greeted the Greenpeace flagship, SV Rainbow Warrior, as she sailed into Bali for the UN CLimate Change Conference.
The United Nations climate conference ended with an agreementto
negotiate a post-Kyoto accord by 2009, but little
substantivechange. Throughout the two-week conference, Canada
joined the UnitedStates and Japan in blocking progress to the
negotiations and opposinga proposal by the European Union to reduce
greenhouse emissions fromindustrialized nations by 25 to 40 per
cent below 1990 levels by2020.
"Environment Minister John Baird pushedinternational climate
negotiations to the brink of complete failure,"said Dave Martin,
coordinator of Greenpeace Canada's climate and energycampaign. "An
agreement to talk is a very slow start to negotiating thenext phase
of the Kyoto Protocol."
Greenpeace hascalled on Canada and other industrialized nations
to support apost-2012 'Kyotoplus' agreement that would reduce
greenhouse gasemissions 30 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, and
80 per cent by2050. These reductions are necessary to prevent
global averagetemperature rising more than two degrees Celsius
above pre-industriallevels. Any increase above that level will
result in catastrophicimpacts.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, Canada agreed toreduce its greenhouse
gas emissions by six per cent below 1990 levelsby 2008-2012.
However, emissions actually increased 25 per cent by theend of
2005. Canada currently ranks seventh from the bottom amongst
41industrialized nations in terms of emission changes
since1990.
"We need a strengthened second phase of theKyoto agreement to
save the planet," said Martin. "Canada should bepart of the
solution, not part of the problem."
Inaddition to a mandate to negotiate a strengthened second phase
of theKyoto Protocol, the agreement in Bali has also taken the
first stepstowards achieving reductions in deforestation emissions,
helping peopleto adapt to the impacts of climate change, and
support in moving toclean energy technologies.