Rebecca Quaicoe
6 December 2011
Parties at the ongoing COP17 are being asked not to look back, but to keep moving forward for a more humanitarian deal despite the diverse views and opinions being expressed at the conference.
“Doomsayers are out in full to prematurely declare the conference dead, but we cannot let this happen”. This was the message from the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi when he spoke on behalf of the African Group at the opening ceremony of the High Level Segment of the climate talks in Durban.
The key objective is to move forward we cannot back track, Zenawi said adding that the Kyoto Protocol was the only deal that can save the world. He is opposed to attempts by some countries to backslide on the Protocol saying that “we cannot move backwards after every achievement”.
He therefore called on the European Union and Canada not to renege on the Protocol even though there might be no answer from Durban, but he urged them to rather help keep the Protocol alive.
Zenawi argued that Africa has constructive suggestions and expectations such as the implementation of the Cancum agreement for the end of the conference.
The Ethiopian leader expressed the continent’s disappointment at the inability of the industrialised nations to put into effect a fast track funding mechanism for developing countries to mitigate climate change as agreed on earlier. He said the Green Climate Fund should be the answer to helping the continent overcome the effects of climate change.
Zenawi said the funding of projects to cope with the consequences of climate change was vitally important to Africans as they were the most affected by its devastating effects.
AllAfrica – All the Time
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Africa: Doomsayers Should Be Put to Shame in Durban – Zenawi