Pacific Island leaders call to intensify global efforts on environment
07 Aug 2009
Pacific Island leaders have appealed to world leaders to intensify their efforts on climate change. Australian prime minister has described their appeal as a call to action.
The Pacific Island Forum in Cairns said it aims to limit the increase in average global temperatures to 2 degree C or less and the leaders at the forum want the world to work toward cutting emissions by 50 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050. The forum did not however spell out shorter-term targets.
The three-day forum saw leaders make a concerted effort to illustrate the consequence of global warming on millions of people who will be severely by coastal inundation if urgent steps are not taken on global warming and climate change.
Rudd said that the fact that about 50 per cent of the populations of the Pacific lie within 1.5 kilometers of the coastline underlined the stark and sobering dimension of the problem.
According to Australian Greens senator Christine Milne, the Australian government's target set for cutting emissions was 'wimpish' and its own weak targets were setting back actions by other nations.
The forum comprises nations of the Alliance of Small Island States, 39 nations in the Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean that will be the first and also the worst hit by global warming.
