UN's Ban welcomes Bali climate deal

Times of India , Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Correspondent : Staff Reporter
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the outcome of the landmark United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. 187 countries agreed to launch a two-year process of formal negotiations on strengthening international efforts to fight, mitigate and adapt to the problem of global warming.

After two weeks of marathon discussions, delegates across the world agreed on both the agenda for the negotiations and a 2009 deadline for completing them so that a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions can enter into effect in 2013.

Known as a Bali Roadmap, the key issues that will be focused on taking action by 2009 are to adapt to the negative consequences of climate change, and devising ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"The Bali Roadmap that has been agreed is a pivotal first step toward an agreement that can address the threat of climate change, the defining challenge of our time," says Secretary General Ban.

The Secretary-General said he "appreciates the spirit of cooperation shown by all parties to achieve an outcome that stands to benefit all humanity."

Earlier this year, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a an alarming statistics that if left unchecked the world’s average temperature could rise as much as six degrees centigrade by the end of the century causing serious harm to economies, societies and ecosystems worldwide.

Welcoming the Roadmap's UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said Bali had produced "a real breakthrough, a real opportunity for the international community to successfully fight climate change. Parties have recognised the urgency of action on climate change and have now provided the political response to what scientists have been telling us is needed."

In his closing address to the plenary session, the Conference President and Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar hailed the Conference.

"We now have a Bali Roadmap, we have an agenda and we have deadline," said Witoelar.

"But we also have a huge task ahead of us and time to reach agreement is extremely short, so we need to move quickly," he added.

Four major UNFCCC meetings to implement the Bali Roadmap are planned for next year, with the first to be held in either March or April. The negotiations process is scheduled to conclude in 2009 at a major summit in Copenhagen.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/The_United_States/UNs_Ban_welcomes_Bali_climate_deal/articleshow/2628344.cms

 
SOURCE : Times of India, Tuesday, 18 December 2007
 


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