UN-led climate negotiations in Mexico yesterday approved a deal after two weeks of talks and a final two days of virtually non-stop diplomacy.
Major powers including the US, EU, China, Japan and India all endorsed the deal. Bolivia was the only major holdout, but host Mexico overruled its objections.
Here are some key points in the agreement:
PHOTO: REUTERS
ACTIONS TO CURB
CLIMATE CHANGE
‧ Urges “deep cuts” in carbon emissions blamed for global warming to keep temperatures from rising no more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Calls for a study on strengthening the goal to 1.5°C.
‧ Requires wealthy countries to cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels. This section is under a working group on the Kyoto Protocol so it does not include the US, which rejected the treaty.
‧ Agrees to study new market mechanisms to help developing nations curb carbon emissions and to discuss the proposals at the next major climate meeting at the end of next year in South Africa.
ASSISTANCE FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
‧ Sets up a new international body, the Green Climate Fund, to administer money from wealthy nations for worst-affected countries. The EU, Japan and the US have led pledges of US$100 billion a year up to 2020, along with US$30 billion in rapid assistance.
‧ Invites the World Bank to serve as the interim trustee of the Green Climate Fund for three years.
‧ Sets up a 24-member board to lead the Green Climate Fund, with equal representation by developed and developing nations along with representatives from small island states which are most worried about climate change.
‧ Sets up a Climate Technology Center and Network to help distribute the technical know-how to developing nations to contain emissions and adapt to climate change.
REDUCING DEFORESTATION
‧ Voices broad support for efforts to reduce the destruction of forests, a leading cause of climate change as lush vegetation counteracts industrial pollution. Asks developing nations to draft anti-deforestation plans. However, the text does not include calls for a market role in such efforts.
‧ Urges all nations to respect the rights of indigenous people.
FUTURE OF KYOTO PROTOCOL
‧ Calls for wealthy nations to discuss a new round of emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol — whose requirements expire at the end of 2012 — “to ensure that there is no gap.” It does not require nations for now to inscribe their post-2012 commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Japan has led opposition to extending the treaty, saying it is unfair by not including China and the US.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS