29 November 2005Montreal GazetteMonique Beaudin
Delegates at the 11th United Nations climate change conference in Montreal were urged Monday to further reduce greenhouse-gas emissions beyond 2012, and invest more money in environmentally friendly projects in the developing world.
``The adverse effects of climate change are being felt,'' said Dr. Gines Gonzales Garcia of Argentina, the conference's previous chairman. ``They will grow in the future, especially for the poorest people in developing countries, who are least prepared to adapt and who are not responsible for the root causes of the problem.''
Environment Minister Stephane Dion, who was in Ottawa later Monday for the non-confidence vote in the House of Commons, told delegates that climate change is the ``most important environmental issue facing the world today.''
Dion called on countries to invest in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which allows developed countries to earn carbon credits by investing in environmentally friendly projects in developing countries. Canada won't be able to meet its Kyoto targets, he said, without the CDM.
The UN conference, scheduled to wrap up Dec. 9, marks the first time the 156 countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol have met since it came into effect, setting legally binding emission targets for developed countries for the period of 2008-12. The United States and Australia are the only two developed countries that have not ratified the agreement.
It's also the largest conference since Kyoto was ratified and the first international climate-change meeting held in North America since the United Nations Framework on Climate Change was adopted in 1992.
Environmental groups said conference delegates are going to have to move forward on the Kyoto Protocol with or without the U.S. They want delegates to set the groundwork for negotiations on the next round of greenhouse-gas emission targets, and establish an adaptation fund that would help countries adapt to climate change.
Meanwhile, Quebec Environment Minister Thomas Mulcair fired back Monday at Dion and environmental groups who are accusing him of not having a plan to cut greenhouse gases. He noted a list of more than 30 projects the province has submitted during provincial-federal negotiations on a climate-change deal for Quebec, including a program already in place to convert biogas from decomposing waste at landfill sites into electricity. Quebec estimates that alone would reduce one million tonnes of greenhouse gases a year.
Mulcair says Quebec can further reduce greenhouse gases by investing in alternative energy, improved technology for transport and boosting public transit. He noted the province already cut emissions 6.8 per cent between 1990 and 2003, while Canada's climbed 24.2 per cent in the same period.
Mulcair announced last week that he was to sign an agreement with Dion over the weekend, giving the province $325 million to help it meet its reduction goals. But Dion said Quebec will receive no federal transfer money until it presents a plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
``Everyone wants to see it,'' Dion said Monday. ``Environmental groups are waiting for it. People working in hydro electricity, they want to see the plan.''
He said negotiations are ongoing.
Mulcair said if Ottawa wanted a deal so badly, it could have accepted one nearly a year and a half ago, when negotiations began. But Quebec negotiators were treated in a ``cavalier'' manner, he said, adding that Dion told him he was behaving like a ``panhandler'' because he wanted Ottawa to recognize Quebec's past efforts on greenhouse-gas reductions.
``It was insulting for me, and for Quebec, the way he treated us on this issue,'' said Mulcair, who also dismissed criticism from environmental groups that it was embarrassing for the province to host an international climate-change conference without an action plan.
