UN climate talks yesterday entered their final week amid rows over the Kyoto Protocol and funding for poorer countries, despite fresh warnings of the peril from greenhouse gases.
After six days of wrangling, nearly 200 nations remained far apart on issues vital for unlocking a global deal on climate change, said delegates at the talks in Doha, Qatar’s capital.
Poor countries were insisting Western nations sign up to deeper, more urgent cuts in carbon emissions under Kyoto after the pact’s first round of pledges expires at the end of the year.
They were also demanding the rich world commit to a new funding package from next year to help them cope with worsening drought, floods, storms and rising seas.
Both questions are key to a new treaty that must be signed by 2015 and enter into force in 2020 to roll back global warming.
“What gives me frustration is that we are very far behind what science tells us we should be doing,” UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) chief Christiana Figueres told a press conference, adding though that she retained “hope.”
Some delegates began to voice fears of deadlock ahead of ministerial-level talks, starting tomorrow, to crown the annual negotiations under the UN banner.
A new study warned on Sunday that Earth could be on track for warming above 5°C by 2100 — at least double the 2°C limit enshrined by the UN.
It follows other research which said polar ice-cap melt had raised sea levels by nearly 11mm over the last two decades, and that Arctic ice has shriveled at an unprecedented rate this year.
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Maria van der Hoeven, warned yesterday that limiting warming to 2°C “is becoming more difficult and more expensive with every passing year.”
“Without concerted action soon, the world is on track for a much warmer future with possibly dire consequences,” she said in a press release.
“Time is running out to prevent the loss of entire nations and other calamities in our membership and around the world,” added the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), gathering nations badly at risk from warming-induced rising sea levels.
Despite the warnings, observers say the Doha talks have become stuck.
One problem is discord within the EU on whether individual nations should be allowed to hold on to unused greenhouse gas emissions quotas — so-called “hot air.”
These leftover allowances, estimated to total about 13 billion tonnes of CO2, were allotted under the first leg of Kyoto.
EU member Poland and some other countries insist on retaining their tradeable “hot air” into the followup Kyoto period — a move vehemently opposed by the developing world and island states who say this will further raise greenhouse gases to dangerous levels.
The Doha talks are meant to set a timeframe and country targets for the second period of Kyoto, which binds about 40 rich nations and the EU to curbing emissions but excludes the two biggest polluters — the US, which refused to ratify it, and China.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a