Sydney Declaration Heralds New Era on Climate Change
The Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Malcolm Turnbull, said the APEC Leaders Sydney Declaration on climate change represents a major breakthrough that heralds a new era of cooperation for international efforts to address climate change.
There has been a varied reaction to this in the media with many saying it was a green-wash because no set targets were defined.
Personally I think it is a huge step in the right direction and I am a great believer in steps rather than leaps because steps are more sustainable.
I cannot see how set targets for every country can work and I think that the Kyoto Protocol demonstrates this. I also cannot see that developing countries can be left out. They need to be able to raise the standard of living of their people because there is no social equity at present but everyone needs to develop with climate change in mind.
Every country has different issues and the big this is that every country publicly and honestly acknowledges that there is a problem and that they then go on and make a public commitment to do something about it that is suitable to their situation but so that overall goals are met. Some nations may well be able to do a lot more in some areas than others and we need to balance this out.
In particular I like Australia’s commitment to a $100 million agreement between the governments of Australia and Indonesia to an Indonesian forests partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This will cut Greenhouse gas emissions by around 700 million tonnes over 30 years.
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