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Coalition Calls For US To Lead Climate Change Battle

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 February 2009, 10:30 CST

A coalition of lawmakers, corporate chiefs and environmentalists said on Monday that the United States needs to take the lead in preserving tropical forests in the fight against climate change, Reuters reported.

Members of the Avoided Deforestation Partners coalition told a Capitol Hill forum that deforestation accounts for 20 percent of the carbon emissions that spur global warming.

New legislation on climate change is expected some time this year, as Congress seeks new policies that will help the U.S. and other countries agree on a successor to the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol.

Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told the group that without the leadership of the United States of America, everybody else will say, "maybe this is not as serious as it seems."

"If America is not concerned, then it cannot be a serious issue," he added.

He described the Amazon in South America, the Congo in Africa and the jungles of Southeast Asia the "lungs" of the world, acting to lock up vast amounts of carbon dioxide.

The coalition has welcomed the new administration of President Barack Obama, who campaigned on fighting climate change, and is anticipating the U.S. Congress' intentions on carbon-capping legislation.

Former President George W. Bush’s administration had criticized the Kyoto Protocol, arguing that it would hurt the U.S. economy.

Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, and Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, both offered support to the call for U.S. leadership on deforestation, as did executives at American Electric Power, Duke Energy, Marriott International, CARE USA, The Nature Conservancy, Oxfam America and Conservation International.

“The focus on preserving tropical forests could help get developing countries involved in an international agreement on global warming,” said Stuart Eizenstat, a former chief U.S. climate negotiator who worked on the Kyoto pact.

Critics of the Kyoto Protocol object to fast-developing countries like China and India that are not being required to curb their emissions of greenhouse gases.

Eizenstat said the new agreement would be a way of engaging developing countries that want to participate and who will make avoiding deforestation their contribution, if they're given the incentives to do so.

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On the Net:

• Avoided Deforestation Partners

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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