World leaders will gather in Copenhagen from Dec. 16-19 for a conference on the global response to climate change.
“It’s not dead in the water,” Ambassador Susan Cox said of the Copenhagen meeting. “It is wrong to say it will be a failure before the meeting.”
Cox represents Australia to the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, all small islands that are on the front line for impacts of sea level rise from global warming.
Marshall Islands President Jurelang Zedkaia, who will lead a delegation to Copenhagen, on Thursday called climate change “no longer just an environmental issue. It is an economic, security and moral issue for my people.” The Marshall Islands is a collection of coral islands that are little more than one meter above sea level.
Cox said the Australian delegation to Copenhagen will be led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
She said the Australian government believes the key to Copenhagen is the level of representation and the political commitment of heads of state.
While it is apparent there will not be an agreed text of a climate change agreement ready for signing in Copenhagen, the key issue is the “political commitment” to effectively address climate change, she said. “There is still a chance for Copenhagen to succeed,” she said.
In an effort to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations, the Australian government is proposing that “national schedules” be established that record the emission reduction commitments of developed nations and make it possible for developing nations to record their domestic efforts in an international context.
Australia says a new agreement that replaces the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012 must include realistic mitigation actions from all the big polluters and advanced nations, and financial commitment to help “the most vulnerable to adapt to the impacts of unavoidable climate change.”
Zedkaia expressed worry about predictions of a one-meter sea level rise this century. “If the current trend continues, I am sad to say the Marshallese people will be one of the first to feel the full impacts of climate change,” he said. Greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut back “to a level where my country can continue to exist and where my people can enjoy our heritage as a right.” He specified a cut of 85 percent in global emissions by 2050 from 1990 levels.
Cox said the Australian position is that greenhouse gas levels must be held at 450 parts per million or lower compared to the present level in the Earth’s atmosphere which is about 370ppm, and to limit average global temperature increases to 2° Centigrade.
The Australian government is injecting A$150 million ($139 million) over three years into climate change adaptation programs in the Pacific.
