Nations in peril seek tougher UN goal

Following a meeting in Manila, a coalition of nations most at risk from climate change on Wednesday appealed for a crucial UN summit to enshrine a much tougher target on global warming, warning that more than 1 billion lives were at stake.

Members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum also pledged to do more themselves to contain global warming, aiming to inspire and challenge powerful countries ahead of the Paris summit that would start in less than three weeks.

At the end of a three-day meeting in the Philippine capital, the group issued a declaration calling for a Paris accord to cement a target of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

The 195-nation UN climate group had previously adopted a goal of limiting global warming to 2 C, which scientists say is the threshold to avoid the most catastrophic consequences.

But that would still leave more than 1 billion people exposed to rising sea levels and other dire impacts of global warming, according to leaders of the Climate Vulnerable Forum.

Ground zero

“Our vulnerable nations are the ground zero in the global struggle against climate change,” said Joyceline Goco, a cochair of the forum from the Philippines. “Meeting here in Manila, we shine a light on the grave dangers we face but also our achievements in addressing climate change and the benefits this is bringing us.”

Ahead of Paris, pledges by nations to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming would still see temperatures rise by about 3 C, according to a range of studies.

Many nations are reluctant to do more because of the short-term economic benefits of relying on fossil fuels for energy, cutting down rainforests or other actions that lead to greenhouse gas emissions.

Moral force

“We are getting a lot of pushback on sticking to the 1.5 degrees Celsius from many countries who feel it is unfeasible,” Saleemul Huq, chair of the forum’s expert advisor’s group, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on the sidelines of the Manila meeting.

“But we must stick to it because it is the moral thing to do. Adopting a 2-degree, long-term goal would be to accept that we are not able to protect the poor people in the poor countries, and we are writing them off,” Huq added.

Until this week, the Climate Vulnerable Forum was a grouping of 20 nations, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Kiribati, Maldives, Rwanda and Barbados.

233 new members

The group announced on Wednesday that it had 23 new members from Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Latin America, Middle East and the Pacific region, representing more than 1 billion people.

In their declaration, the members pledged to lead by example by continuing to strive to curb their own emissions, even though they have far less resources to do so than developed countries.

They also outlined ways to work together to find solutions, such as with their own financing programs, rather than just wait for help from developed nations.

Costa Rica, a small Central American nation with a population of fewer than 5 million people, has even pledged to go carbon neutral by 2021.

“They are looking to use that power of inspiration, and that power of demonstration,” Matthew McKinnon, a United Nations Development Program adviser to the forum, told AFP.

McKinnon cited efforts by Bangladesh, a member of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, to install solar power to 4 million homes in recent years, with a target of 7 million by 2017.

“If, in a matter of years, you can have 30-40 million people with solar power in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in Asia, any country can do this,” he said. AFP