The Solomon Islands ambassador to the United Nations, REX HOROI, prior to the recent World Climate Conference in Berlin, led a delegation to six European countries to lobby for further commitments on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists believe that if emissions of these gases are not reduced, there will be big changes to climatic patterns, leading to the submersion of low-lying island countries in the South Pacific and Caribbean. Ambassador Horoi spoke to CAROLYN COURT about the tour and the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) position, before attending the Berlin conference.
While industrialised countries have made unofficial commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000, most are having difficulty meeting this target. AOSIS is pushing for a binding protocol reducing emissions by 20% by the year 2005. To put this demand into perspective, scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — the scientific body advising the world on this issue — have said reductions of greenhouse gases need to be in the realm of 60% to stabilise global warming.
What was the main aim of your tour?
To generate more interest, among the general public in the so-called Toronto countries, in the vulnerability of small island states to the predicted human-induced climate change. To create an awareness which will lead to greater public support for the carbon dioxide reducing measures, and support for a more active role for these countries in the climate debate. To inform parliamentarians and policy makers about the AOSIS protocol and ask their support for the protocol during the conference in Berlin.
We would like to call the AOSIS protocol the protocol of the world, so we can get global support for it. Because we, as "front-line" states, are the early warners. We do not want to be the victims of the human-induced climate change. We would like to create an awareness now, and take action now, rather than waiting.
Another objective of the trip is to improve the understanding among the churches and NGOs in the Toronto countries for the position of the AOSIS.
I was talking to the Australian ambassador for the environment, Penny Wensley, recently, and she likened trying to get movement on this climate change issue to trying to shift a supertanker. It obviously will be a very difficult set of negotiations. Are you hopeful that there could be any strengthening of the convention?
We hope so. The target of 20% is the minimum, because just in order to stabilise the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we need targets of at least 60% to 80%, according to scientific data. And that is almost impossible. We would like the levels to be reduced by 20% (from 1990 levels) by 2005. We're setting a target that we think is achievable. We appreciate that some countries have expressed willingness to start at a reduction of 5% and then move up. It's good to see that.
But the "annex one" parties of the convention really have the responsibility to take action now. They, since the industrial revolution, are responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases at a level that is not sustainable. The "annex one" parties should adopt measures, instruments and guidelines and try to adopt more manageable — at a global level — emission reduction levels.
Do you think the industrialised countries are taking enough responsibility for this?
Not at this stage. We would like to encourage the global community to take preventive measures now. Preventive measures are less costly than curative measures. For example, if we wait for the scientific proof, by then we will have to evacuate the people of Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and parts of the Federated States of Micronesia, and other atolls that are inhabited throughout the Pacific, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, and relocate them somewhere.
If we have a sea level rise of a metre — if we don't act now — we could have those countries seeking relocation in Australia. Will Australia take them on? Sovereign nations in the middle of Australia? Will the United States take in the countries of the Caribbean that will be first to go?
We are warning the world that we do not want to be victims. We would like all countries throughout the world to take action now. The first step is the adoption of the AOSIS protocol, either in Berlin or thereafter, for beginning negotiations on a world protocol that everyone will agree upon, and begin to set concrete targets, and translate the political will into concrete actions. That is what we are looking for.
[This interview — here abridged — was broadcast on One World, an environmental awareness program for the Pacific, produced by Carolyn Court for Radio Australia.]