Times of India , Friday, August 31, 2007

Correspondent : Mukund Deshmukh

SYDNEY: Global warming, not trade or terrorism, will top the agenda at next week's gathering of Pacific-Rim leaders - a year after climate change barely got a mention in the group's final declaration. But don't expect the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's 21 members - which include China, the United States and Russia, the world's top three greenhouse gas emitters - to announce any specific targets to cut carbon emissions at the Sept. 8-9 leaders' summit in Sydney. Senior officials headed south Friday to finalize statements that will be signed by the leaders at the culmination of a weeklong round of meetings and top-level hobnobbing, against the backdrop of the Sydney Opera House. It will be the largest political gathering Australia has ever hosted - and the security operation is also expected to be unprecedented to protect against terrorist attacks and planned mass protests that police fear could turn violent. Authorities have thrown up five-meter (16-foot) security fences around key sites, and will use barricades to completely shut off a large chunk of downtown Sydney when the leaders arrive next Friday. Combat helicopters, fighter jets and navy ships will back up more than 5,000 police and troops on security patrols, officials said. Disruptions due to the security measures are expected to be so bad that the New South Wales state government has declared a holiday for Sydney next Friday and is advising people to get out of town. At their weekend summit, APEC leaders are likely to adopt a consensus statement on global warming that calls for members to voluntarily make ``measurable and verifiable contributions to meeting shared global goals,'' according to a draft of the declaration obtained by environmental group Greenpeace. That approach is in keeping with the nonbinding nature of APEC, which was formed in 1989 as a consultative forum to promote trade in the region. Still, observers say any consensus reached in Sydney could help chart the course for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, which expires in 2012. A UN meeting due in December in Bali, Indonesia, will start building a framework for a post-Kyoto agreement.

SOURCE : Times of India, Friday, 31 August 2007