Green Groups Urge G8 Leaders to Ignore Bush Not the Climate
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Greenpeace July 6, 2005
GLENEAGLES, UK
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JOINT PRESS RELEASE
GREENPEACE - WWF - FRIENDS OF THE EARTH - TEARFUND - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS
As the G8 summit  gets underway in Scotland, environment and development groups are urging Prime Minister Tony Blair and other world leaders to stand up to President Bush and agree a clear way forward for climate protection.
The US is the only G8 country not to have ratified the Kyoto Protocol and the Bush administration has
already tried to weaken early drafts of the G8 communiqué, objecting to language that includes statements that the world is warming, human activity is mostly to blame and developed
economies must lead the fight against the problem.
"This summit provides an opportunity for leaders to reinforce their
commitment to fighting climate change and map out a way ahead but there
is a real risk that, in the quest for consensus, President Bush will
prevail and we will end up with a weak,
compromised statement that could
set back climate protection by years," said Stephanie Tunmore of
Greenpeace International. "The rest of the G8 countries should insist on
a strong, clear message on climate change, even if the result is a
'split'
communiqué."
"The US administration must not be allowed to derail international
action on climate change," said Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth
(FoE). "If we are to halt
climate change and deliver climate justice we
need action not words. The eyes of the world are upon Gleneagles this
week and they want to see moral leadership on cutting emissions and
ending poverty. Tony Blair and other world leaders must be prepared to
stand up to President Bush on the issue of climate."
"Tony Blair often talks of the 'special relationship' between the UK and
the US. In this case that
relationship has clearly let him down. He
should cut his losses, abandon Bush and forge forward with an ambitious
G8 minus 1 plan of action to save the climate" said Jennifer Morgan,
Director of Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)'s Global Climate Change
Programme.
"Climate change is a reality for poor communities in Africa and the
longer the G8 stall on taking action the more any progress on making
poverty history will be
fatally undermined," said Farah la Trobe of
Tearfund.
John Lanchbery, Head of Climate Change Policy at the Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds(RSPB) said: "Climate change is already affecting
the natural world,
throughout the world, and the impact on wildlife
could be catastrophic. Attempts to reduce poverty in Africa and climate
change are inextricably linked; temperature rises will bring
increasing
misery to many Africans and considerably affect African wildlife. There
is no option but to recognise the impact of climate and to help the
poorest countries adapt to it."
Greenpeace, WWF, FoE, RSPB and Tearfund believe that a
strong successful
G8 communiqué on climate change would include:
* A clear statement that the G8 leaders accept the scientific
evidence for global warming and the fact that the
majority of the
warming is human-induced, that acknowledges the scale and urgency of the
problem;
* A clear political signal and signal to the business community that
that the G8 is committed to an expanded system of carbon trading, linked
with
deeper cuts in emissions thus ensuring continuation of the carbon
markets after 2012.
* Agreement to implement the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD) plan to help
Africa prepare for, and mitigate climate disasters
at both a community and national level.
* Commitment that by 2008 all G8 countries' development policies and
programmes will be designed to ensure that poor people in developing
countries are
less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.--
Cecilia Goin
Media Officer
Greenpeace International
Ottho Heldringstraat 5
1066 AZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0) 20 718 2159
Mobile: +31 6 212 96 908
Fax: +31 (0) 20
5148151
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Source: Greenpeace
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