Eighty-one nations have signed up to the “Copenhagen Accord” for fighting climate change but Guyana is not among them.
The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Secretariat wrote to all countries on January 18, asking them to say by January 31 if they wanted to be formally “associated” with the accord after it failed to win full backing from the 194-nation summit in December. The accord also set a deadline of January 31 for countries to submit their 2020 targets for greenhouse gas emissions curbs. The UN, however, says the deadline is flexible.
Official letters published on the UN website at Wednesday showed that all top emitters led by China, the United States, Russia and India have submitted plans for curbing emissions. In total, 88 countries have responded to the UN but a few have not said if they want to be associated including China and India, whose leaders were among those to negotiate the pact with U.S. President Barack Obama, a report from Reuters said. Associated countries will be listed at the top of the accord.
The accord sets a goal of limiting global warming to less than a 2 degree Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) rise from levels in pre-industrial times, and a goal of $100 billion a year in aid for the poor from 2020. When contacted, Chairman of the National Climate Committee Shyam Nokta told Stabroek News that Guyana and other developing countries are not required to make any specific commitments. He stated that the Association of Small Island States – of which CARICOM, including Guyana, is a member–held meetings in New York on Wednesday to discuss their reaction to the Copenhagen Accord and their position. “Very soon,” they should be issuing a statement to this effect, he stated.
At Wednesday, 81 nations had signed up to the Accord including CARICOM states, the Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago though they did not outline 2020 emission targets. The US has signed on as did the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, Botswana, Congo, Costa Rica and others. A number of these have submitted plans for curbing emissions while others have not.
