Curb harmful gas emissions, Annan urges

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday urged developed countries to step up efforts to reduce harmful gas emissions that have been blamed for global warming, adding that poor countries were bearing the brunt of climate change.

"Low emissions need not mean low growth, or stifling a country's development aspirations," Annan told more than 6,000 delegates attending the conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

"It is increasingly clear that it will cost far less to cut emissions now than to deal with the consequences later," he said.

Several industrialised countries, notably the Unites States and Australia, have declined to sign the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that sets legally binding targets for developed countries to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases by 2012.

They argue that doing so would entail implementing measures that could harm their economies.

Annan appealed to the developed world to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change.

"The impact of climate change will fall disproportionately on the world's poorest countries, many of them in Africa. Poor people already live on the frontlines of pollution, disaster and the degradation of resources and land. Their livelihoods and sustenance depend directly on agriculture, forestry and fisheries," he said.

"We must make it a higher priority to integrate the risks posed by climate change into strategies and programmes aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals," Annan added.

Government representatives at the UNFCCC meeting are expected to set targets for further cuts in greenhouse gas emissions when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012.

They are also expected to agree on best ways to manage the Clean Development Mechanism. This enables industrialised countries, which have emission targets under the Kyoto Protocol, to invest in sustainable development projects in developing countries that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and thereby generate tradable emission credits.

Annan also announced the 'Nairobi Framework', a plan by six UN agencies to help developing countries, especially in Africa, to secure funds to foster clean energy, including wind and hydropower.

The UN Development Programme and the UN Environment Programme were also preparing an initiative to help developing countries to factor the effects of climate change into their national development plans.

"Global climate change must take its place alongside the threats of conflict, poverty and the proliferation of deadly weapons that have traditionally monopolised first-order political attention," said Annan.

Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki said the effects of climate change would damage the African savannah, tropical forests, coral reefs, freshwater habitats and wetland ecosystems.

"These developments will affect economic activities, particularly agriculture and tourism, which are the major sources of income to many African economies," he said.

Kenya, he added, would continue to exploit its geothermal resources with a view to converting steam into a clean and renewable source of electricity.

"Climate change is threatening to frustrate poverty eradication efforts and making the prospect of meeting the Millennium Development Goals less certain," Kibaki added.

The President of the Swiss Confederation, Moritz Leuenberger, proposed a carbon tax to raise funds to pay for climate change adaptation measures worldwide.

"Based on the 'polluter pays' principle, it would be paid by each individual and each business in proportion to their CO2 emissions," he said.

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