Amid rising waters, island nations plead case at climate
conference
November 17, 2000
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- To small island nations,
predictions that global warming will wreak environmental havoc
are more than mere theories for scientific debate. From Cape
Verde to Tonga to Tuvalu, the omens are in their own watery
backyards: towering tidal waves. Vanishing atolls. Crumbling
reefs.
Dozens of the tiny nations are pressing their case this month at
a pivotal U.N. conference on climate change.
"These are serious issues of economics and livelihood -- issues
that can disrupt the social fabric of countries," Leonard Nurse,
director of Barbados' Coastal Zone Management Unit, said
Thursday.
Nurse is one of some 6,000 delegates from more than 180 countries
in The Hague for the sixth U.N. climate conference. The two-week
meeting, which began Monday, is aimed at reaching commitments to
stem the warming trend, thought to be caused by heat-trapping
emissions from industrial pollution and car exhaust.
A U.N. panel of 2,000 scientists predicts temperatures will
increase by as much as 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 100
years, raising sea levels by up to 31 inches.
Already feeling the effects
Some island nations are beginning to experience the consequences
of rising waters. In the Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago,
several atolls have become permanently inundated, even at low
tide. Officials blame global warming, noting that there is no oil
drilling in the area and geological sinkage has been ruled out.
"We can find no other reason to point to," Nurse said.
Islands are at particular risk because common sources of
livelihood -- often tourism and agriculture -- are clustered
along the vulnerable coasts. Changes in water temperature can
erode coral reefs, and rising seas threaten freshwater supplies.
"In Barbados, some of the coastal wells are showing increasing
levels of salinity," Nurse said. "Barbados is already one of the
most water-scarce countries in the world."
Rising waters have also swamped islets in the Pacific nations of
Kiribati and Tuvalu, destroying roads and bridges and washing
away traditional burial sites.
The threat is not only from rising water levels. Cyclones,
hurricanes, droughts and other natural disasters are also
believed to be associated with climate change.
Thirty-nine island nations represented here banded together 10
years ago in AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island States, hoping
to counteract the clout of industrialized countries.
They reject proposals by the United States and European
countries, which want to meet emissions-reduction targets by
financing ecological projects in, developing countries instead of
cutting their own output.
"Whoever caused the problem has to clear up the problem," said
Yumie Crisostomo of the Marshall Islands. She and others
dismissed suggestions that island nations should adapt to
changing conditions by building surge barriers and storm drains.
Carbon 'sink' goes down the drain
In other conference developments, the European Union rejected a
proposal Thursday from the United States, Japan and Canada on a
method to cut levels of greenhouse gases.
The U.S.-led plan, which environmental groups also harshly
rejected, suggests using so-called carbon "sinks" -- forests and
lands that absorb carbon dioxide pollution -- to help meet
targets of carbon dioxide reduction agreed to under the 1997
Kyoto Protocol.
The 15-nation European Union said it opposes the proposal because
it "does not ensure the environmental integrity of the Kyoto
Protocol."
The rejection set the stage for a tough battle when environment
ministers arrive next week at the conference. They are expected
to agree to concrete measures to combat global warming.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, reached at a meeting in Japan, world
leaders agreed to lower global greenhouse gas emissions before
2012 by 5.2 percent from their 1990 levels.
The EU statement added that the U.S. proposal was too vague and
"open ended." It said the proposal was overly focused on
short-term measures and "does not solve remaining problems for
the future."
The U.S. plan also envisions agriculture and woodland projects
that would count as reductions in atmospheric levels of carbon
dioxide without requiring curbs in emissions from factory
smokestacks.
Some industrial countries have such extensive forests that they
could meet their entire targets without changing the release of
pollution.
"We are profoundly concerned and foresee that some of these
measures could threaten the survival of our people," said
Rosemary Kuptana of Canada's Inuit (Eskimo) population. "Our
fragile ecosystem is being compromised."
Another point of contention that will face government ministers
in the second week of talks is the issue of emission credit
trading, whereby rich nations would be able to purchase emissions
credits from less polluting countries.
Article by Associated Press
SOURCE: CNN
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