East Asia Summit Signs Climate Declaration « It’s Getting Hot In Here

Singapore - the East Asia Summit, comprising the 10 Southeast Asian members of ASEAN plus China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, today released the ‘Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment’.

The declaration uses language similar to the Kyoto Protocol - The nations “Commit to the common goal of stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations in the long run, at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. However, there is also very disturbing language (no doubt pushed by Australia) endorsing nuclear energy - “Cooperating for the development and use of civilian nuclear power” and geosequestration - “cleaner fossil fuel technologies including clean use of coal”. This is concerning, especially so close to the Bali Kyoto negotiations.

The declaration does not include numerical targets for emission reduction levels but it does commit to “work to achieve an EAS-wide aspirational goal of increasing cumulative forest cover in the region by at least 15 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020.”

For the full text of the agreement, go here

About Anna

Anna Rose, 25, founded the Australian Youth Climate Coalition in November 2006. The coalition unites a diversity of youth organisations to build a generation-wide movement to solve climate change. Anna was a National Organiser for the National Union of Students in 2005 and is past National Convenor of the Australian Student Environment Network. She is a former editor of the Sydney University student paper, member of the United Nations Pacific Youth Environment Network, holds a 2008 Fellowship from the International Youth Foundation, and comes from the biggest coal export port in the world - Newcastle, Australia.

It’s Getting Hot In Here