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G8 Summit Agrees on Food Security, Climate, Nuclear Arms Control
L'AQUILA, Italy, July 10, 2009 (ENS) - Food security and aid for African countries were pivotal topics on the third and final day of the G8 Summit. Meetings expanded from the core Group of Eight industrialized countries on Wednesday to include 17 major economies on Thursday, and today seated the heads of 40 delegations around the same table.
Concerned by the increasing number of undernourished people and inadequate levels of investments in agriculture, leaders of 40 states and heads of international organizations such as UN agencies, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization convened to unite efforts for hunger eradication.
Today, the leaders issued a first-ever joint G8-Africa statement, expressing their determination to build a stronger partnership to increase access to water and sanitation. They confirmed commitments for sustainable development, including development aid, climate change and peace and security.
Illustration Omitted:
The final G8 meeting in
L'Aquila seated 40 delegations. (Photo by Alessandro Di Meo courtesy
ANSA/G8)
The G8 met with Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, the African Union Commission and relevant international organizations. Leaders resolved to act swiftly to limit the impact of the global financial crisis on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. These globally agreed targets include halving poverty by 2015 by means of sustainable development.
The aid fund for Africa rose from US$15 billion at the beginning of the week to $20 billion after the G8 working sessions with the African countries, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced today at the final press conference of the L'Aquila G8 Summit.
The US$20 billion will be mobilized over three years through the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative in support of rural development in poor countries.
Leaders pledged advancement of the Global Partnership on Agriculture and Food Security, to keep agriculture at the core of the international agenda, relaunch investments and boost aid efficiency and in-country coordination.
"There is an urgent need for decisive action to free humankind from hunger and poverty," the leaders said in the L'Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security. "Food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture must remain a priority issue on the political agenda, to be addressed through a cross-cutting and inclusive approach, involving all relevant stakeholders, at global, regional and national level. Effective food security actions must be coupled with adaptation and mitigation measures in relation to climate change, sustainable management of water, land, soil and other natural resources, including the protection of biodiversity."
Illustration Omitted:
Foreground, U.S.
President Barack Obama and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
during the leaders' final working session on the last day of G8
Summit. (Photo by Alessandro Di Meo courtesy ANSA-G8)
By helping the world's hungry, who now number one billion, the international community can also secure a more peaceful and stable future for all, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the G8 leaders in L'Aquila.
Ban said that last year's major spike in food and energy prices affected hundreds of millions of people. "It amplified suffering, hardship and political unrest. We lost ground in our race to reach the first Millennium Development Goal," he said.
Ban said the situation is getting worse with today's volatile markets, breakdown in world trade, climate change effects and falling income from job losses.
"We need to do more, faster. The food crisis is permanently harming millions of children. They need our help. This is about even more than alleviating human suffering; it is about global peace and stability."
G8 Summit Agrees on Food Security, Climate, Nuclear Arms Control
L'AQUILA, Italy, July 10, 2009 (ENS) - Food security and aid for African countries were pivotal topics on the third and final day of the G8 Summit. Meetings expanded from the core Group of Eight industrialized countries on Wednesday to include 17 major economies on Thursday, and today seated the heads of 40 delegations around the same table.
Concerned by the increasing number of undernourished people and inadequate levels of investments in agriculture, leaders of 40 states and heads of international organizations such as UN agencies, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization convened to unite efforts for hunger eradication.
Today, the leaders issued a first-ever joint G8-Africa statement, expressing their determination to build a stronger partnership to increase access to water and sanitation. They confirmed commitments for sustainable development, including development aid, climate change and peace and security.
Illustration Omitted:
The G8 met with Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, the African Union Commission and relevant international organizations. Leaders resolved to act swiftly to limit the impact of the global financial crisis on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. These globally agreed targets include halving poverty by 2015 by means of sustainable development.
The aid fund for Africa rose from US$15 billion at the beginning of the week to $20 billion after the G8 working sessions with the African countries, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced today at the final press conference of the L'Aquila G8 Summit.
The US$20 billion will be mobilized over three years through the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative in support of rural development in poor countries.
Leaders pledged advancement of the Global Partnership on Agriculture and Food Security, to keep agriculture at the core of the international agenda, relaunch investments and boost aid efficiency and in-country coordination.
"There is an urgent need for decisive action to free humankind from hunger and poverty," the leaders said in the L'Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security. "Food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture must remain a priority issue on the political agenda, to be addressed through a cross-cutting and inclusive approach, involving all relevant stakeholders, at global, regional and national level. Effective food security actions must be coupled with adaptation and mitigation measures in relation to climate change, sustainable management of water, land, soil and other natural resources, including the protection of biodiversity."
Illustration Omitted:
By helping the world's hungry, who now number one billion, the international community can also secure a more peaceful and stable future for all, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the G8 leaders in L'Aquila.
Ban said that last year's major spike in food and energy prices affected hundreds of millions of people. "It amplified suffering, hardship and political unrest. We lost ground in our race to reach the first Millennium Development Goal," he said.
Ban said the situation is getting worse with today's volatile markets, breakdown in world trade, climate change effects and falling income from job losses.
"We need to do more, faster. The food crisis is permanently harming millions of children. They need our help. This is about even more than alleviating human suffering; it is about global peace and stability."
UN agencies are welcoming the G8's food security initiative, with the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization saying it signals an "encouraging shift of policy" in favor of helping the poor and hungry to produce their own food.
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf voiced confidence that G8 leaders will translate their pledge into concrete action "not only for natural ethical considerations but also for sound economic reasons and, last but not least, to ensure peace and security in the world," he told the summit.
Prime Minister Berlusconi emphasized that the G8 agreement on the climate had been a "great success" scored by the L'Aquila Summit, highlighting the "major advances" that had come from countries like China and India, which had been prepared to give a number of concrete undertakings.
Illustration Omitted:
Berlusconi also stressed the change of policy on the climate made by the new U.S. administration, which now wants to join forces with Europe to fight global warming.
In his final press conference, U.S. President Barack Obama said, "We took groundbreaking steps forward to address the threat of climate change in our time. The G8 nations agreed that by 2050, we'll reduce our emissions by 80 percent and that we'll work with all nations to cut global emissions in half."
"And 17 of the world's leading economies - both developed and developing nations alike - made unprecedented commitments to reduce their emissions and made significant progress on finance, adaptation, and technology issues," Obama said.
"We did not reach agreement on every issue and we still have much work ahead on climate change, but these achievements are highly meaningful and they'll generate significant momentum as we head into the talks at Copenhagen and beyond," the U.S. President said.
The G8 also agreed to historic measures that Obama said "will help stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and move us closer to the long-term goal of a world without nuclear weapons."
In Prague in April, Obama outlined a strategy for moving the world in that direction. This week the G8 "embraced" that strategy, Obama said.
Illustration Omitted:
"It includes measures to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty; to encourage nations to meet their arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation commitments; and to secure nuclear weapons and vulnerable nuclear materials so they don't fall into the hands of terrorists," Obama said today.
Obama invited leaders from the broader group of nations here to attend a Global Nuclear Summit that he will host in Washington in March 2010. There, he said, nations "will discuss steps we can take to secure loose nuclear materials; combat smuggling; and deter, detect, and disrupt attempts at nuclear terrorism."
Finally, the G8 agreed to reevaluate Iran's posture towards negotiating the cessation of a nuclear weapons policy. "We'll evaluate that at the G20 meeting in September," Obama said.
"The international community has said, here's a door you can walk through that allows you to lessen tensions and more fully join the international community. If Iran chooses not to walk through that door, then you have on record the G8, to begin with, but I think potentially a lot of other countries, are going to say we need to take further steps."
"And that's been always our premise, is that we provide that door, but we also say we're not going to just wait indefinitely and allow for the development of a nuclear weapon, the breach of international treaties, and wake up one day and find ourselves in a much worse situation and unable to act," said Obama. "So my hope is that the Iranian leadership will look at the statement coming out of the G8 and recognize that world opinion is clear."
Copyright Environment News Service, ENS, 2009. All rights reserved.
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http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2009/2009-07-09-01.asp
17 Major Economies Pledge to Set Greenhouse Gas Limit by December
L'AQUILA, Italy, July 9, 2009 (ENS) - Leaders of the world's major economies today formally recognized for the first time the scientific view that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels should not exceed two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F.) to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of global warming.
Gathering with G8 leaders at their annual meeting in L'Aquila, the major economies group, which includes both developing and industrialized countries, did not announce a numeric target for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but did pledge to work towards identifying such a percentage by December.
Then, world leaders meet at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen to finalize a deal to cut emissions that will take over when the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Illustration Omitted:
Wednesday the G8 nations agreed that by 2050 developed nations will reduce their emissions by 80 percent and also agreed to work with all nations to cut global emissions in half.
"This ambitious effort is consistent with limiting global warming to no more than two degrees Celsius, which, as our declaration explicitly acknowledged for the first time, is what the mainstream of the scientific community has called for," U.S. President Barack Obama said.
Today, the 17 leaders of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States said they are "convinced that climate change poses a clear danger requiring an extraordinary global response..."
They agreed to establish, at the earliest possible date, a peak year after which overall global emissions of greenhouse gases will start falling.
The major economies recognized the priority of economic and social development for the developing countries among them and linked it with the urgent need to move quickly to a low-carbon economy.
"Moving to a low-carbon economy is an opportunity to promote continued economic growth and sustainable development," they said, adding that "the need for and deployment of transformational clean energy technologies at lowest possible cost are urgent..."
These leaders resolved "to spare no effort to reach agreement in Copenhagen, with each other and with the other Parties" to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
But UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was critical of the major economies' statement, and of the pledge by G8 leaders Wednesday to a long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Speaking in L'Aquila, Ban said that this target is not credible without "ambitious mid-term targets, and baselines."
Illustration Omitted:
"In order to achieve such a global goal, developed countries must lead by example in making firm commitments to reduce their emissions by 2020 on the order of the 25 to 40 per cent below 1990 levels that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us is required. It is disappointing to note that thus far, the mid-term emissions targets announced by developed countries in the MEF [Major Economies Forum] are not in this range."
Ban said the measures put forward by the major economies "while welcome, are not sufficient."
"The time for delays and half-measures is over," he said. "The personal leadership of every head of State or government is needed to seize this moment to protect people and the planet from one of the most serious challenges ever to confront humanity."
The Secretary-General noted that the countries represented in L'Aquila are responsible for more than 80 percent of global emissions, "and that is why they bear special responsibility for finding a solution to the political impasse. If they fail to act this year, they will have squandered a unique historical opportunity that may not come again. We stand at a historical crossroads. Business as usual is no longer viable"
Emerging from the major economies meeting, U.S. President Barack Obama said "we've made some important strides forward as we move towards Copenhagen."
"I don't think I have to emphasize that climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time," Obama said. "The science is clear and conclusive, and the impacts can no longer be ignored. Ice sheets are melting. Sea levels are rising. Our oceans are becoming more acidic. And we've already seen its effects on weather patterns, our food and water sources, our health and our habitats."
"Every nation on this planet is at risk, and just as no one nation is responsible for climate change, no one nation can address it alone," Obama said.
Obama acknowleged the "historic responsibility" of developed countries such as the United States, saying "We have the much larger carbon footprint per capita, and I know that in the past, the United States has sometimes fallen short of meeting our responsibilities. So, let me be clear: those days are over. One of my highest priorities as President is to drive a clean energy transformation of our economy, and over the past six months, the United States has taken steps towards this goal." Today, the major economies promised to take other steps to reduce the emission of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
They pledged to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and to enhance removals of greenhouse gas emissions by forests, including providing enhanced support to developing countries for these purposes.
"We are establishing a Global Partnership to drive transformational low-carbon, climate-friendly technologies," the major economies said in their declaration.
Specifying technologies such as energy efficiency; solar energy; smart grids; carbon capture, use, and storage; advanced vehicles; high-efficiency and lower-emissions coal technologies; and bio-energy, the major economies said they are aiming to double investments in these and other clean energy technologies by 2015.
Lead countries from the major economies group will report by November 15, 2009, on action plans and roadmaps, and make recommendations for further progress.
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"Financial resources for mitigation and adaptation will need to be scaled up urgently and substantially and should involve mobilizing resources to support developing countries," the major economies said.
They said financing to address climate change, particularly in developing countries, will "derive from multiple sources, including both public and private funds and carbon markets."
An arrangement to match diverse funding needs and resources should be created, and utilize both public and private expertise. They agreed to consider proposals for the establishment of international funding arrangements, including the proposal by Mexico for a Green Fund.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has proposed a $10 billion green fund as a more efficient way to combat climate change than carbon credits. He says the green fund could be administered by the World Bank or another multilateral agency. It would be funded by contributions from all nations as distinct from funding by the private sector carbon credit market.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for a US$100 billion dollar fund to assist developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.
The governance of mechanisms disbursing funds should be transparent, fair, effective, efficient, and reflect balanced representation, the major economies declared, adding that accountability in the use of resources should be ensured.
But environmentalists were disappointed in the response of the Major Economies Forum. "The failure by MEF to agree on halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is a sign of mistrust between developed and developing nations," said Kim Carstensen of the global conservation organization WWF.
"It's all about money. Rich countries are telling poor nations: oh poor you. But they avoid committing to pay their fair share" Carstensen said. "This is not enough and it is not fair. Wealthy nations have to show true empathy, real leadership, solid financial commitments and not comforting statements."
In Rome, police arrested 38 demonstrators Tuesday who gathered to protest the Group of Eight summit meeting. Protesters blocked roads and set fire to tires and garbage piles. Later about 50 protesters blocked tracks at Rome's main train station, throwing stones at police.
Interrogations of 11 people detained in the Rome demonstrations have resulted in charges of aggravated obstruction of officers of the law.
Today in Rome, activists are arriving in the square in front of the train station, chanting slogans in many languages. Police are also present but so far they have maintained a low profile far from the activists.
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On Wednesday, more than 100 Greenpeace activists from around the world occupied four coal-fired power stations across Italy, demanding that G8 leaders take meaningful action on climate change.
The sites included the country's largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions, a power plant in Brindisi, where activists blocked the coal conveyer belts and prevented coal from going into the plant.
Speaking in L'Aquila, Greenpeace USA Executive Director Phil Radford said, "The G8 heads of state must break the deadlock in the climate negotiations and stop blaming developing countries for their own inadequate climate policies."
In L'Aquila, a demonstration against the G8 has gathered some 200 people at Via Strinella. At the end of the demo a sit-in will be held to protest G8 policies.
In Pescara, a "green schooner" sailed by the Italian environmental NGO Legambiente displayed a banner reading "Stop the Fever" to stimulate world leaders to take meaningful action to fight global warming.
"The schooner appeals to the powerful of the Earth so that all decisions are taken without forgetting or underestimating the devastating effects that climate change may have on our planet," Legambiente said.
In Naples, police today arrested two anti-G8 demonstrators at a symbolic occupation of the Il Duomo cathedral.
Copyright Environment News Service, ENS, 2009. All rights reserved.
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed, without profit, for research and educational purposes only. ***
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