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PACIFIC
ISLAND STATES DEMAND IMMEDIATE ACTION International Herald Tribune
August 16, 2001
Internet: http://www.iht.com/articles/29464.htm
KOLONIA Federated States of Micronesia -
Leo A. Falcam Thursday, August 16, 2001
Climate change is hurting islands around the world, but for
the people of the Pacific it is nothing less than slow death.
Our tragedies provide an early warning to the global community
of its own impending doom. What is happening to us stands as
clear reason why the countries of the world, primarily the industrialized
nations, must take significant steps now to cut emissions of
greenhouse gases. The consequences of climate change for Pacific
islands include rising sea levels, destruction of our freshwater
sources, more intense storms, loss of crops to seawater, and
coastal erosion. . These changes are already having devastating
effects on Tuvalu, whose 10,000 people live on nine low-lying
atolls. Scientists predict that rising waters will totally swallow
them within 50 years. Already the Tuvalu government has asked
New Zealand and Australia to accept the entire population as
environmental refugees. My country, the Federated States of
Micronesia, has many small islands that are also threatened
with extinction.
Last month in Tokyo, the U.S. secretary of state, Colin Powell
called global warming a security "challenge," but it is far
more. It is a doomsday threat of utmost urgency. The loss of
thousands of years of island cultures might be tolerated by
the world at large, and tens of millions of island peoples might
be relocated, with great difficulty and human suffering. But
the rest of the planet also faces devastating consequences.
. Our early experience with the real consequences of global
warming, as island leaders have been emphasizing for the last
decade, should be the canary in the coal mine. This warning
will be wasted if significant steps are not taken now, primarily
by all industrialized nations, to cut back emissions of greenhouse
gases. The climate change that threatens the existence of Pacific
islands was not of their making. They contribute an infinitesimal
amount of the carbon dioxide and other gases that are making
the world warmer. There is very little that they can do to prevent
further loss. . Pacific island leaders have joined together
on this issue at various global and regional organizations,
such as the 44-nation Alliance of Small Island States and the
Pacific Islands Forum, which is meeting this week in Nauru.
This collective voice has accomplished much in the various United
Nations negotiations on climate change. But only the major industrialized
nations possess the capacity to reverse the course of global
warming. . Seldom, if ever, has a global scientific consensus
emerged on such a vital and complex subject in so short a time.
Ten years ago, uncertain science forced the world to rely on
the precautionary principle in calling for reductions of greenhouse
gases. Today the call is based on clear evidence.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change assigned "common
but differentiated responsibilities" to all countries in confronting
climate change. It stipulates that developed nations, having
caused this situation, must take the lead in reversing it. The
Kyoto Protocol, which calls on industrialized nations to cut
emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of approximately
6 percent below 1990 levels, is nothing more than a protocol
to the overarching UN convention. It was never seen as a solution
to the problem of climate change but was to be instead a vital
first step. . Naturally, adverse economic consequences must
be minimized as much as possible, but it is equally important
to initiate substantial measures without further delay. The
United States is refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Yet
it assumed bold leadership when it declared AIDS to be a global
security threat. Now we look once more to the great nations
of the world to accept the leadership responsibilities assigned
to them in the Climate Change Convention.
The writer is president of the Federated States of Micronesia
and chairman of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders based
at the East-West Center in Honolulu. He contributed this to
the International Herald Tribune.
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