Calderon asks Latin America to back Cancun climate summit |
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/science/news/article_1603449.php/Calderon-asks-Latin-America-to-back-Cancun-climate-summit
Mar del Plata, Argentina - Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Saturday asked Latin America to support the UN climate summit taking place in Cancun, Mexico.
'I ask for your support so that the agreements that are being negotiated in Cancun may be approved,' Calderon said in his speech at the Iberian-American Summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Calderon recalled that '2010 has been catastrophic in many parts
of the planet,' with floods, drought and other disasters that have claimed many lives.
He asked fellow-leaders to attend next Thursday's summit session. 'Your presence is very important, so that Cancun can deliver results,' he said.
'It is important that we get large (greenhouse gas) emitting countries to ratify their commitments, including the United States. If we Iberian-American countries push, we are going to have very important results.'
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa requested 'clear and concrete initiatives' to shield vulnerable countries, including his own, from the consequences of climate change.
'Ecuador wants to contribute to a sustainable planet. But we will be taken advantage of. We need resources to escape poverty,' he stressed.
Correa called for an integrating concept that compensates countries 'for avoiding emissions' like the Yasuni ITT initiative, in which Ecuador opted not to exploit offshore oil so as not to damage the environment.
Calderon complained that 'many very powerful countries are using a radicalization of positions (in Cancun) to say that no progress can be made at all.'
Government envoys have been working since Monday in Cancun to unblock the talks. While there is no hope of agreement on a new global treaty, governments hope to adopt measures that would move the ball forward on financing, technology and deforestation.
But Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday that he expects the climate summit to 'deliver no results.'
'The COP-16 in Mexico will deliver no results. No major leaders will be there, at most the environment ministers, so there will be no progress,' Lula said.
Lula insisted, however, that whatever happens in talks towards a global agreement, Brazil will stick to its goal of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 39 per cent 2020.
The Amazon rainforest plays a major role in absorbing carbon emissions blamed on global warming, and Brazil intends to reduce by 80 per cent the annual destruction of one of the earth's greenest lungs by 2020.
'The important thing is that we are fulfilling the commitment we made here in Brazil. We are fulfilling it and we need no favours to do it. We will do it because it is our duty,' he said.
Lula cancelled earlier plans to take part in the Cancun summit.
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