Indonesia: Climate change ‘affects human rights’ in small island states
December 6th, 2007
Nusa Dua, 5 Dec. (AKI) - A representative of the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) said that climate change is a matter of human rights for her people, who risk becoming stateless and refugees due to global warming.
The current United Nations climate change summit taking place in Bali on how to mitigate global warming condemn small island states, said a Greenpeace Climate Change Advisor from Fiji, Arieta Matalomani Moceica, speaking on behalf of AOSIS.
“The scenario pictured under the Kyoto Protocol means that thousands of people from the Small Island States, and in particular those from the Pacific Ocean, will lose their land and livelihood and will became environmental refugees,” Moceica told Adnkronos International (AKI) on the sidelines of the Bali conference.
“We do not want that. We do not want to be second class citizens in a developed country. We have a land and we want to live there. The world must listen and act.”
Moceica explained that some of the AOSIS islands are among the world’s lowest-lying and, therefore, particularly vulnerable to the rising sea levels caused by global warming.
She added that even if the Kyoto Protocol targets were met, thousands of people would be forced to abandon their homes.
The Kyoto Protocol requires 36 industrial nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The United States - the world’s biggest polluter - has not ratified Kyoto. The pact excludes developing countries.
People in the Fiji, Niue, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands - some of the member states of AOSIS – have started to resent westerners, who they blame for global warming, said Moceica.
“People are bitter and disappointed with westerners. They feel frustrated and abandoned,” she stated.
According to UN recent reports, sea levels rose by a global average of about 3 millimetres annually from 1993 to 2003. However, a 2006 study by Australian oceanographers found parts of the western Pacific and Indian oceans rose by almost 2.5 centimetres every year.
Delegates from over 170 nations meeting in Bali through 14 December aim to frame a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
Source: http://www.adnkronos.com/
Entry Filed under: World Tourism News
Trackback this post