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also PlanetArk website 1 Aug 05 Australia says ASEAN Nations Keen on New Climate Pact Channel NewsAsia 31Jul 05 ASEAN states welcome to join new climate pact: Australia SYDNEY: Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would be welcome to join a new six-country pact on curbing greenhouse gases once details are worked out, Australia said. The new non-binding compact to reduce emissions was announced last Thursday at a regional forum in Laos after months of secret negotiations by the United States, Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea. "In principle we'd be very happy for ASEAN countries to become involved because they're economies that are significant, though not on the scale of China, India and the US," Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer told ABC TV's Insiders program. "ASEAN governments were asking me whether it would be possible for them to become involved in this partnership in time and I made it clear that once we've worked out how we'd like it all to come together, we'd in principle be very happy for ASEAN countries to become involved." The new initiative does not have enforcement standards or a specific timeframe for signatories to cut greenhouse gas emissions, unlike the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which the United States and Australia have refused to ratify. The pact aims to use new technologies to cut back on emissions and member countries say it will complement the Kyoto protocol rather than undermine it. Scientists predict global warming, caused mainly by increasing carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of coal, gas and oil, will increase the frequency and severity of droughts, flooding and storms, threatening global agricultural production. Some environmentalists have criticised the new agreement, saying it is designed to serve the interests of the countries involved, which include some of the world's biggest polluters. "The pact, rather than saving the climate, is nothing more than a trade agreement in energy technologies between the countries in question," said the environmental group Greenpeace. The United Nations' expert body on climate change welcomed the pact, however. "The partnership addresses the crucial relationship between development, energy needs and their related investments, energy security and a decrease in greenhouse gas intensity," said the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. PlanetArk website 1 Aug 05 Australia says ASEAN Nations Keen on New Climate Pact MELBOURNE - Southeast Asian countries have expressed interest in joining a new US-led partnership to cut greenhouse gas emissions by developing technology and economic incentives, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. The Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate between Australia, the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and India was unveiled at an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum in Laos last week. "The ASEAN governments were asking me whether it would be possible for them to join this partnership in time," Downer said on Australian television on Sunday. "And I made it clear that once we've worked out how we want it all to come together, we, in principle, would be very happy to see ASEAN countries become involved because their economies are growing and they're significant emitters as well," he said. Unlike the Kyoto climate agreement, which requires cuts in greenhouse emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12, the Asia-Pacific partnership has no time frames or targets. "We hope that we'll start to get results under our partnership fairly quickly," Downer said. "That's going to require collaborative research. It's also going to mean we'll have to investigate price signals coming from energy." Downer said the work would probably be paid for jointly by governments and the private sector. The six founding partners of the new pact account for 45 percent of the world's population, 48 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions and 48 percent of the world's energy consumption. The United States and Australia are the only developed nations outside Kyoto. Both say Kyoto, agreed to in 1997, is flawed because it omits developing states. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said world temperatures are likely to rise between 1.4 and 5.8 degree Celsius (2.5-10.4 degree Fahrenheit) by 2100, linked to the build-up of greenhouse gases from human activities. links Related articles on Global issues: global warming issues, policies |
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