(Recasts with draft seeking global action)
By Alister Doyle and Gerard Wynn
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Dec 8 (Reuters) - All nations must do
more to fight climate change, and rich countries must make deep
cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts, a
draft proposal at United Nations talks said on Saturday.
The four-page draft, written by delegates from Indonesia,
Australia and South Africa as an unofficial guide for delegates
from 190 nations at the Dec. 3-14 talks, said developing nations
should at least brake rising emissions as part of a new pact.
It said there was "unequivocal scientific evidence" that
"preventing the worst impacts of climate change will require
(developed nations) to reduce emissions in a range of 25-40
percent below 1990 levels by 2020."
The draft is the first outline of the possible goals of
talks on a new global deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which
binds just 36 developed nations to cut emissions of greenhouse
gases by 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
"Current efforts ... will not deliver the required emissions
reductions," according to the text, obtained by Reuters, that
lays out a plan for averting ever more droughts, floods,
heatwaves and rising seas.
"The challenge of climate change calls for effective
participation by all countries," it said. The United States is
outside the Kyoto pact and developing nations led by China and
India have no 2012 goals for limiting emissions.
Echoing conclusions this year by the U.N. climate panel, it
said global emissions of greenhouse gases would have to "peak in
the next 10 to 15 years and be reduced to very low levels, well
below half of levels in 2000 by 2050."
THREE OPTIONS
The draft lays out three options for how to proceed after
Bali -- ranging from non-binding talks over the next two years
to a deadline for adopting a new global pact at a U.N. meeting
in Copenhagen in late 2009.
Rich nations should consider ways to step up efforts to curb
emissions of greenhouse gases by setting "quantified national
emission objectives", the draft says.
Poor countries should take "national mitigation actions ...
that limit the growth of, or reduce, emissions," it says. It
adds that "social development and poverty eradication are the
first and overriding priorities" for poor nations.
Delegates will report back on Monday with reactions.
Earlier, trade ministers from 12 nations met for the first
time on the sidelines of a U.N. climate conference, opening a
new front in the global warming battle.
Their two-day discussions ending on Sunday focus on easing
tariffs on climate-friendly goods to spur a "green" economy.
About 20 finance ministers will join the fringes of the Bali
meeting on Monday and Tuesday.
"Climate change solutions open up important opportunities
for jobs and trade," Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean told
reporters. Ministers at the trade meeting included those from
the United States, Australia, Brazil and India.
Differences over who should take the blame for, and do most
to curb, emissions threatened to deadlock the main talks. Canada
and Australia joined Japan on Saturday in calling for
commitments from some developing countries.
But developing nations would find it "inconceivable" to
accept binding targets now, said the U.N.'s climate change chief
Yvo de Boer. An alliance of 43 small island states urged even
tougher action to fight climate change, saying they risked being
washed off the map by rising seas.
Outside the conference centre, Balinese dancers used sticks
to burst black balloons labelled "CO2", the main greenhouse gas.
-- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on:
http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/
(Reporting by Gerard Wynn and Alister Doyle, Editing by Tim
Pearce)
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Keywords: BALI/