Pacific Rim leaders yesterday said the world needs to "slow, stop and then reverse" greenhouse gas emissions, and adopted modest goals to curb global warming as thousands of demonstrators rallied to demand they do more.
Some experts and activists dismissed as ineffective the program adopted by the presidents of the US, China, Russia and leaders of other Asia-Pacific economies at the annual summit -- which did not set goals for cutting countries' output of polluting gases.
But it sets a precedent because it applies to all of the group's mix of rich and developing members, and could influence upcoming UN negotiations on climate change.
PHOTO: AFP
Leaders "charted a new international consensus for the region and the world," summit host Australian Prime Minister John Howard said outside the Sydney Opera House, where the leaders adopted the declaration on the first of two days of talks.
A dozen blocks away and on the other side of a 3m metal fence fortified by concrete barriers and a police cordon, about 3,000 protesters held a colorful, mostly peaceful march and rally. Causes included protests against US President George W. Bush, the Iraq war and ending poverty.
Kerry Nettle, a senator from the Greens party, demanded that the Pacific Rim leaders take "real action" on global warming, drawing cheers. One protester wore a T-shirt that read: "Climate Change is not Cool."
Another was dressed as a polar bear.
Police, who had warned of potential violence and been given special search powers by the local government, had only minor scuffles with demonstrators, arresting 17 protesters. Two officers were also injured, police said.
The APEC climate change program brings together some of the world's powerhouse economies and some of its biggest polluters. As such, it could influence upcoming negotiations before the end of the year in Washington, New York and Indonesia to devise a successor to the UN-backed Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.
"If you have APEC, especially the largest emitters -- the US, China, Russia, Japan -- sign up to an agreement like that, it would be hard to ignore at the global level," said Malcolm Cook of Sydney-based think tank the Lowy Institute.
Environmental groups and some climate change experts said the agreement was weak.
"In practical terms, that will mean almost nothing," said Frank Jotzo, an Australian National University expert in climate change economics. "It is very unambitious."
The energy intensity target sets a rate that most economies are naturally meeting as they get richer and shift out of power-intensive manufacturing, he said.
"If the APEC statement is the platform for future action on climate change, then the world is in trouble," Greenpeace energy campaigner Catherine Fitzpatrick said.
In the plodding bargaining this past week, officials tried to bridge differences between richer and developing nations.
The targets, a demand of Australia and the US, apply to all countries. Under Kyoto, China, India and other developing countries were largely exempted from emissions targets applied to industrial countries. At APEC, developing nationss got richer members to reaffirm that they should bear most of the costs in solving global warming.
"In diplomacy, we cannot be 100 percent satisfied because it is a product of negotiations, and in the end we have to live with it," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, whose government had earlier opposed the target, told reporters. "Any product of negotiation, whatever document we call it, it is a product of compromise."
US presidential aide Dan Price said the APEC declaration was a "very ambitious statement" that forged "quite a bold new direction" on climate change.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique