PNG joins climate talks in S. Africa

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday 13th December 2011

By JASON GIMA WURI
and ETHEL NAMURI

PAPUA New Guinea joins world leaders in climate talks at the conference of parties in Durban amid warnings that a breakthrough agreement was unlikely on the Kyoto Protocol.
The protocol, the only legal agreement on limiting greenhouse gases, lapses next year –  unless member countries decide to extend it. It was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on Dec 11, 1997,
and came into force on Feb 16, 2005.
The detailed rules for the implementation of the protocol were adopted in Marrakesh in 2001 – and called the Marrakesh Accords.
PNG’s delegation includes Ronald Asik, the vice-minister for Forestry and Climate Change, Thompson Harokaqveh, the Minister for Environment and Conservation, Ambassador Lucy Bogari, PNG’s special envoy to the conference,  Dr Wari Iamo, the Office of Climate Change and Development acting executive director.
They joined 12 heads of states and 130 ministers attending the segment of the conference which deals with extending the carbon-emission limits established in Kyoto.
In Durban this week, they are negotiating to secure a second round of commitment from the developed nations under an extended Kyoto protocol.
Canada, Japan and Russia have indicated that
they are not in favour of extending Kyoto.
The European Union however is keen that talks on a new agreement begin in Durban. Canada has been advocating for a single agreement to replace Kyoto that would include all countries.
The Kyoto accord requires countries to make strict cuts to their greenhouse gas emissions.
Papua New Guinea in 1997 made its commitment on a voluntary basis to reduce its greenhouse gases by 50% by 2030.
The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fourth Assessment Forests are in fact natural regulators of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as they help to store carbon.
When forests are cleared, the carbon stored in trees is released in the form of carbon dioxide, therefore increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Forestry and agriculture are found to contribute to more than 90% of greenhouse gas emissions in PNG, mainly through large-scale logging and the conversion of forests into agricultural use.
If PNG continues to grow as it is doing now, greenhouse gas emissions are expected to rise by as much as 32% by 2030.
This increase would be in sharp contrast to the country’s commitment of reducing emissions by 50% compared to a business as usual (BAU) baseline by 2030 and becoming carbon neutral by 2050.