Climate delegates arrive in Kiribati |
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/climate-delegates-arrive-in-kiribati-20101109-17lv0.html
New Zealand climate change expert Stephanie Lee says the Pacific nation of Kiribati is "at the moral heart of climate change negotiation".
Ms Lee, a senior climate change negotiator for the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was one of about 30 international delegates - including senior officials from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia's high commissioner to Kiribati and AusAid representatives - to touch down in Kiribati's capital, Tarawa, on Tuesday afternoon for this week's climate change conference.
"It's just so vulnerable to so many environmental hazards," Ms Lee told AAP of Kiribati, which is a collection of atolls scattered across the central Pacific, none more than three metres above the average sea level.
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Kiribati President Anote Tong is hoping the conference will draw attention to the plight of the Pacific nation and result in the formation a unified voice ahead of December's global change summit in Mexico, adding strength to a push for a legally binding treaty to promote long-term action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Ms Lee said New Zealand was participating in the conference because it hoped to be "part of the solution".
"I'm here because we're a Pacific country and this is something of incredible importance to Kiribati and to the other Pacific nations," she said.
"We hope that we're part of the solution.
"We're here for the long haul."
As the delegates arrived on Tuesday, they were each presented with a lei made of mangrove buds before being driven under police escort to their hotels, dotted along Tarawa's eroding coastline.
The three-day Tarawa Climate Change Conference (TCCC) will begin with a dinner at State House on Tuesday evening, before Mr Tong kicks off formalities on Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday, a plenary session on the urgency of climate change concerns will be conducted by delegates from the Maldives and the Marshall Islands, followed by an afternoon discussion on what action needs to be taken.
TCCC organisers are hoping the Ambo Declaration can be inked on Wednesday afternoon to formalise the outcomes of discussions.
A banquet will be held at Parliament House on Wednesday night before guests depart early on Thursday morning.
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