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WORLD> Africa
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Latest round of UN climate change talks open in Accra
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-22 00:00 NAIROBI -- The latest round of UN-sponsored global climate change negotiations kicked off Thursday in Accra, the capital of Ghana, according to a press release of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) received here. More than 1,600 participants, including government delegates from 160 countries and representatives from business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions, are attending the one-week meeting, said the press release. The "UN Climate Change Talks - Accra, 2008" constitute the third major UNFCCC negotiating session this year to get to an agreement on strengthened long-term cooperative action on climate change. The deal is to be clinched in December 2009 in Copenhagen. The Accra talks were opened by Ghanaian President John Kufuor, who pointed to the fact that the northern part of his country in particular has been witnessing both serious drought and flooding in recent times. In Ghana, rainfall has decreased by 20 percent over the past 30 years, while up to 1,000 square kilometers of land may be lost in the Volta Delta due to sea-level rise and inundation should greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at the current pace. "There is a real need for strengthening the capacity of countries, particularly in Africa, in coping with such climate shocks," the president was quoted as saying. "I would therefore like to call for an international deal or 'compact,' in which developing countries commit to plan for climate resilient development. In return the international community should commit to provide adequate, predictable, long- term funding and support in terms of technology transfer and capacity building," he added. The Ghanaian president warned that time was running out to negotiate the crucial international climate change deal that would not only drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but generate the "billions of dollars" poor countries needed to adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change. "The clock is ticking," he said. "We need to be pragmatic and move beyond rhetoric to make progress as we move towards Copenhagen." |
