By ZAKKI HAKIM, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 58 minutes ago
BALI, Indonesia - The world's top two polluters, the U.S. and
China, say they are not ready to commit to mandatory caps on
greenhouse gases.
But that's not a worry to the organizers of this month's U.N.
climate conference, who say they only want to jump-start the
world's talks toward a new climate accord.
"This meeting is not about delivering a fully negotiated climate
change deal, but it is to set the wheels in motion," the U.N.
climate chief, Yvo de Boer, said Sunday.
Presidents, prime ministers and environmental ministers prepared to
join discussions on how to head off the impacts of rising
temperatures, from rising oceans to deadly droughts and
diseases.
"Reaching a conclusion even in two years is going to be very
ambitious, let alone trying to achieve that kind of result in two
weeks," de Boer said.
The main negotiating text for the Dec. 3-14 meeting on the
Indonesian island of Bali mentions targets for reducing the amount
of pollutants pumped into the atmosphere, but in a nonbinding way.
The text was obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday.
Its preamble notes the widely accepted view that industrial
nations' emissions should be cut by 25 percent to 40 percent below
1990 levels by 2020, and that global emissions must be slashed to
half of 2000 levels by mid-century.
There is little chance those numbers will make it into the final
document, de Boer said, but they will more than likely spark
renewed debate at the Bali talks, which are meant to launch a
two-year negotiation for a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement.
Delegates will, among other things, decide in the next week what
issues to include in a "Bali roadmap," including likely references
to the importance of helping the most vulnerable nations adapt, and
the need to provide developing countries with the technical
know-how they need to reduce emission.
As for mandatory caps, de Boer said, "I really hope that that is a
discussion that will be taken up toward the end of that two years
rather than here."
The Kyoto pact, which was rejected by the United States, commits
three dozen industrial countries that signed on to cut emissions by
an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels in the next five
years.
One of the reasons Washington did not sign on was because the pact
did not set targets for fast-developing countries like China. The
two nations are the largest emitters of climate-changing gases,
though scientists do not always agree which tops the list.
The chief U.S. negotiator said Washington would come up with its
own plan to cut global-warming gases by mid-2008, and would not
commit to mandatory caps in the coming days.
"We're not ready to do that here," said Harlan Watson, whose
country favors a more voluntary approach to cuts.
That process of U.S.-led talks was inaugurated last September by
President Bush, who invited 16 other "major economies" such as the
Europeans, Japan, China and India, to Washington to discuss a
future international program of cutbacks in carbon dioxide and
other heat-trapping emissions.
Watson said the final decision would likely be announced at a
"leaders" meeting in the middle of next year.
Environmentalists accuse the Bush administration of using those
parallel talks to subvert the long-running U.N. negotiations and
the spirit of the binding Kyoto Protocol.
China, which is increasingly turning to coal-powered electricity
plants and factories to help fuel its booming economy, has also
stood firm in saying it would not agree to binding targets. It says
the West is responsible for rising temperatures, because it has
been pumping climate-changing gases into the air for
centuries.
"China is in the process of industrialization and there is a need
for economic growth to meet the basic needs of the people and fight
against poverty," said Su Wei, a top climate expert for the Chinese
government and member of its Bali delegation.
____
AP Special Correspondent Charles J. Hanley contributed to this
report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/ap_on_re_as/bali_climate_conference;_ylt=Aljv6Pdu9k61dMmaEx4OnLYPLBIF
