Do more to cut emissions: UN climate official

Times of India , Friday, October 22, 2010
Correspondent : AP

AMSTERDAM: The agreements reached at a global conference this month to help poor countries cope with climate change exceeded expectations but need to be followed up, the UN's top climate official said.

Christiana Figueres, head of the UN climate change secretariat, said yesterday all countries, especially in the industrial world, need to deepen their commitments to cut greenhouse gases and to quickly launch new funds to help developing countries adapt to global warming.

Pledges submitted so far to reduce emissions over the next decade amount to just 60 per cent of what scientists say would be required to have a 50 per cent chance to keep the Earth from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.8 Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. Warming by more than 2 degrees, the UN scientists have said, could lead to severe changes in climate affecting agriculture, sea levels, water resources, human health and the survival of many species.

Figueres said the agreements reached 10 days ago in Cancun, Mexico, went farther than many expected - but not far enough.

"Cancun was a big step, bigger than many imagined would be possible," she said in a statement from her office in Bonn, Germany. "Governments renewed their trust in each other, but to succeed fully they need to press boldly ahead with what they have agreed."

She said the agreements were the most comprehensive package ever reached to help poorer countries deal with the impacts of global warming.

Her statement came as countries and environmentalists were still digesting the agreements adopted after two weeks of tough negotiations ending with an all-night session Dec. 11. Most analysts said the accords were enough to rescue the moribund negotiating process from potential collapse, but they deferred the most painful decisions at least for another year.

"I think, in the end, we did very, very well, and I think that the world did very well," Todd Stern, the chief US delegate, said in a Sunday interview with the television program EnergyNOW.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/developmental-issues/Do-more-to-cut-emissions-UN-climate-official/articleshow/7140140.cms
 


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