Catastrophe-hit Philippines today led a host of countries in making an emotional plea to rich nations to salvage the listless climate talks here, as civil society groups launched a scathing attack on ‘deal blockers’, warning that the Doha round was on the “brink of disaster.”
As the climate talks to decide the second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol and draft broad contours for a treaty that would succeed it hurtled towards a ‘weak deal’, or worse a ‘no deal’ scenario, specially vulnerable and poor countries joined hands with the world’s major civil society groups in demanding greater action on emission reduction and finance.
Six global organisations —— Greenpeace, WWF, Action Aid, Oxfam, Christian Aid and Friends of the Earth —— at a joint appearance lashed out at developed countries, particularly the US, Australia and Canada, for blocking negotiations by their rigid and unrelenting stance on providing finance and technology to poorer nations.
Making an emotional plea for movement, Philippines lead negotiator Yeb Sano said he did not want tragedy to be a way of life for people of his country and others across the world.
“As we speak here and try to make a difference in negotiations, a tragedy is unfolding back home. We have toll rising with widespread devastation, hundreds of people missing. This typhoon is a kind we have hardly experienced for half a century, the area that has been hit by the typhoon had not been hit in over 40 years,” he said.
Typhoon Bhopa has already claimed at least 320 lives in southern Philippines and left hundreds missing.
“Hundreds of thousands of our people are currently in evacuation centres and we refuse to make it a way of life for Philippines,” Sano said.
It is the 16th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year alone as scientists say they have signs that extreme weather events were rising across the global due to adverse impacts of climate change.