Amid rising waters, island nations plead case at climate conference

November 17, 2000
Web posted at: 2:51 PM EST (1951 GMT)

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- To small island nations, predictions that global warming will wreak environmental havoc are more than mere theories for scientific debate. From Cape Verde to Tonga to Tuvalu, the omens are in their own watery backyards: towering tidal waves. Vanishing atolls. Crumbling reefs.

Dozens of the tiny nations are pressing their case this month at a pivotal U.N. conference on climate change.

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"These are serious issues of economics and livelihood -- issues that can disrupt the social fabric of countries," Leonard Nurse, director of Barbados' Coastal Zone Management Unit, said Thursday.

Nurse is one of some 6,000 delegates from more than 180 countries in The Hague for the sixth U.N. climate conference. The two-week meeting, which began Monday, is aimed at reaching commitments to stem the warming trend, thought to be caused by heat-trapping emissions from industrial pollution and car exhaust.

A U.N. panel of 2,000 scientists predicts temperatures will increase by as much as 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 100 years, raising sea levels by up to 31 inches.

Some island nations are beginning to experience the consequences of rising waters. In the Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago, several atolls have become permanently inundated, even at low tide. Officials blame global warming, noting that there is no oil drilling in the area and geological sinkage has been ruled out.

"We can find no other reason to point to," Nurse said.

Islands are at particular risk because common sources of livelihood -- often tourism and agriculture -- are clustered along the vulnerable coasts. Changes in water temperature can erode coral reefs, and rising seas threaten freshwater supplies.

"In Barbados, some of the coastal wells are showing increasing levels of salinity," Nurse said. "Barbados is already one of the most water-scarce countries in the world."

Rising waters have also swamped islets in the Pacific nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu, destroying roads and bridges and washing away traditional burial sites.

The threat is not only from rising water levels. Cyclones, hurricanes, droughts and other natural disasters are also believed to be associated with climate change.

Thirty-nine island nations represented here banded together 10 years ago in AOSIS, the Alliance of Small Island States, hoping to counteract the clout of industrialized countries.

They reject proposals by the United States and European countries, which want to meet emissions-reduction targets by financing ecological projects in, developing countries instead of cutting their own output.

"Whoever caused the problem has to clear up the problem," said Yumie Crisostomo of the Marshall Islands. She and others dismissed suggestions that island nations should adapt to changing conditions by building surge barriers and storm drains.

The Maldives are one of many low-lying island nations that are sounding the alarm about rising sea levels

In other conference developments, the European Union rejected a proposal Thursday from the United States, Japan and Canada on a method to cut levels of greenhouse gases.

The U.S.-led plan, which environmental groups also harshly rejected, suggests using so-called carbon "sinks" -- forests and lands that absorb carbon dioxide pollution -- to help meet targets of carbon dioxide reduction agreed to under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

The 15-nation European Union said it opposes the proposal because it "does not ensure the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol."

The rejection set the stage for a tough battle when environment ministers arrive next week at the conference. They are expected to agree to concrete measures to combat global warming.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, reached at a meeting in Japan, world leaders agreed to lower global greenhouse gas emissions before 2012 by 5.2 percent from their 1990 levels.

The EU statement added that the U.S. proposal was too vague and "open ended." It said the proposal was overly focused on short-term measures and "does not solve remaining problems for the future."

The U.S. plan also envisions agriculture and woodland projects that would count as reductions in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide without requiring curbs in emissions from factory smokestacks.

Some industrial countries have such extensive forests that they could meet their entire targets without changing the release of pollution.

"We are profoundly concerned and foresee that some of these measures could threaten the survival of our people," said Rosemary Kuptana of Canada's Inuit (Eskimo) population. "Our fragile ecosystem is being compromised."

Another point of contention that will face government ministers in the second week of talks is the issue of emission credit trading, whereby rich nations would be able to purchase emissions credits from less polluting countries.

Copyright 2000   The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
  • Kyoto Protocol
Barbados' Coastal Zone Management Unit
Alliance of Small Island States
EU

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