OUAGADOUGOU: Africa will demand billions of dollars in compensation from rich polluting nations at a UN climate summit for the harm caused by global warming on the continent, African officials said.
With just two months to go before the UN summit in Copenhagen, officials met at a special forum in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou where they underscored the need for compensation for the natural disasters caused by climate change.
"For the first time Africa will have a common position," African Union commission chairman Jean Ping told the seventh World Forum on Sustainable Development.
"We have decided to speak with one voice" and "will demand reparation and damages" at the December summit, Ping said.
The World Bank estimates that the developing world will suffer about 80 per cent of the damage of climate change despite accounting for only around one third of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
"Policy-makers have to agree to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and adhere to the principle that the polluter pays," Ping said.
In a final declaration, the six African heads of state attending the forum said they supported calls for industrialised nations to cut their carbon emissions by "at least 40 per cent" by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.
