'Make climate pact binding'

2009/11/29

Fauziah Ismail reporting from Port Of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago)

MALAYSIA on Friday called for not only a politically binding agreement at next week's Copenhagen Summit but also one that is legally binding. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who took part in the debate on climate change at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) here, said that without a legally-binding agreement, it would be difficult to ensure commitment on climate change, especially among the developed nations.

"Let there be no countries which put aside the Kyoto Protocol," he told Malaysian newsmen after attending a four-hour special session on climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A total of 184 countries have ratified the protocol to date.

The major feature of the protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.

CHOGM is the last major world forum before the global summit on climate change in Copenhagen on Dec 7.

At the special session, leaders from the 53-member grouping also heard French President Nicholas Sarkozy reiterating his call for a new global environmental organisation to act as a regulatory body on the environment.

He had first made the suggestion in New York in August after a working meeting with UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

Both Sarkozy and Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen are on a mission to persuade the grouping to take a stronger stance on climate change.

Both are special guests to CHOGM 2009, together with Ban.

Leaders were also told of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's suggestion for an annual US$10 billion (RM35 billion) global fund for up to three years to respond to the world's "climate emergency" by fast-tracking funds to poorer countries.

About half the Commonwealth members are island states; many threatened by rising sea levels.

Earlier, when opening the meeting, Queen Elizabeth II said that on the eve of the UN Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change the Commonwealth had an opportunity to lead once more.

"The threat to our environment is not a new concern. But, it is now a global challenge which will continue to affect the security and stability of millions for years to come.

"Many of those affected are among the most vulnerable, and many of the people least well able to withstand the adverse effects of climate change live in the Commonwealth."

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the prime minister's wife, attended a working luncheon hosted by Babli Sharma, the wife of the Commonwealth secretary-general.

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