Solomon Times
The warning comes amidst
governments preparing to gather in Bali, Indonesia, in December to
discuss the future of the Kyoto Protocol.
The
report 'Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world'
provides a stark account of the threat posed by the global warming.
It
argues that the world is drifting towards a "tipping point" that could
lock the world's poorest countries and their poorest citizens in a
downward spiral, leaving hundreds of millions facing malnutrition,
water scarcity, ecological threats and a loss of livelihoods.
The UNDP Administrator, Kemal Davis, said that ultimately, climate change is a threat to humanity as a whole.
But
he said that it is the poor, a constituency with no responsibility for
the ecological debt we are running up, who face the immediate and most
severe human costs.
The report has come at a key moment in
negotiations to forge a multilateral agreement for the period after
2012, which is the expiry date for the current commitment period of the
Kyoto Protocol.
On mitigation, the authors call on developed
countries to demonstrate leadership by cutting greenhouse gas emissions
by at least 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
The report advocates a
mix of carbon taxation, more stringent cap-and-trade programmes, energy
regulation and international cooperation on financing low-carbon
technology transfer.
The report also warns that inequalities in
ability to cope with climate change are emerging as an increasingly
powerful driver of wider inequalities between and within countries.
It
also calls on rich countries to put climate change adaptation at the
center of international partnerships on poverty reduction.
The lead author, Mr. Kevin Watkins, commented that they are issuing a call to action and not providing a counsel of despair.
"Working together with resolve, we can win the battle against climate change," he said.
Mr.
Watkins added that allowing the window of opportunity to close would
represent a moral and political failure without precedent in human
history.
He described the Bali talks as a unique opportunity to
put the interests of the world's poor at the heart of climate change
negotiations.
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