Posted on 20-8-2002
Climate
Change, Radiation Concern In Pacific
SUVA, Fiji, August 19, 2002 (ENS) - Government leaders of 16
Pacific Island
nations expressed "deep concerns" about the adverse impacts
of climate
change, climate variability and sea level rise as the 33rd Pacific
Islands
Forum closed in Suva on Saturday. Many of these small and low
lying island
nations are already experiencing extreme hardship. "While the
Pacific
islands are small in population and land territory, in contrast
to the
billions who occupy the large land continents," said Fiji Prime
Minister
Laisenia Qarase at the opening ceremony, "let us not forget
that we have
sovereign authority over nearly one-sixth of the planet's surface,
embracing vast tracts of our Pacific Ocean. This mighty mass
of water is
our heritage."
In their final communique, Pacific leaders "encouraged" the
United States
and all other major emitters of the greenhouse gases linked
to global
warming to contribute towards global efforts to address climate
change. The
leaders welcomed the acceptance of the Kyoto climate protocol
by Japan and
approval by the European Community and again encouraged all
parties to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to ratify
it as "a
significant first step forward on a path to ensuring effective
global
action to combat climate change."
The Forum includes Australia, which has decided not to ratify
the protocol,
agreeing with the United States that it would be bad for the
nation's
economy. Some Pacific Island leaders show a growing hostility
toward
Canberra which they blame for the threatening sea level rise.
Australian
Prime Minister John Howard was served with angry complaints
about his
government's climate stance at the Forum. Australia's National
Tidal
Facility, which is monitoring sea level across the Pacific,
says it has
recorded no rise in the past decade. But a new sea level study
by
Australian oceanographer Dr. John Hunter has found it is too
early, and the
data is still too uncertain, to draw any conclusions. Today,
in the Pacific
Island nation of Tuvalu, people are experiencing damaging tidal
surges and
saltwater intrusion into agricultural land. Tuvalu authorities
have
publicly conceded defeat and appealed to the governments of
New Zealand and
Australia to help in an evacuation of Tuvalu's 11,000 people.
Australia is
not accepting, but the first group of evacuees will leave for
New Zealand
this year.
During the Forum, Australian Environment Minister Dr. Kemp announced
in
Canberra that Australia is "within striking distance" of achieving
the
country's Kyoto Protcol target of limiting greenhouse emissions
to 108
percent of 1990 levels over the period 2008 – 2012. Kemp said
Australia is
projected to reach around 111 percent of 1990 greenhouse emissions
by the
end of the decade, "far closer to the 108 percent target than
many climate
change commentators have predicted." Still, Australia will not
back down
and sign the protocol. "It is clear that the Kyoto Protocol
does not at
this time provide an effective framework," said Kemp. "It will
make only a
modest contribution – around one percent – to reducing the growth
of global
emissions. "Even as a first step, it does not provide a clear
path towards
developing countries’ commitments and the U.S. has indicated
that it will
not ratify. Together, these countries already produce most of
the world’s
greenhouse gas emissions," Kemp said. Noting his country's own
vulnerability to the impacts of global warming, Kemp is still
using the
Kyoto target as a benchmark. Calling the 108 percent permitted
rise in
greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 "challenging but fair," reflecting
rates
of population and economic growth among the fastest in the developed
world,
a strong natural resource base to the economy, and that fact
that Australia
does not use nuclear power.
Radioactivity and nuclear materials - whether released by nuclear
testing
or passing through on spent fuel tankers - are cause for concern
across the
Pacific. Leaders endorsed a Nuclear Weapon Free Southern Hemisphere
and
emphasized their "continuing serious concerns over the shipment
of
radioactive materials through the region." The Forum communique
calls on
shipping nations to meet with those nations whose 200 mile Exclusive
Economic Zones the shipments pass on their way between power
reactors in
Japan and nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities in France and
the United
Kingdom. They want assurances by shippers that the highest possible
safety
standards are being met.
While noting the reservation by Australia, the Pacific Island
nations are
urging acceptance by shipping nations of full responsibility
and liability
for compensation for any damage which may result directly or
indirectly
from transport of radioactive materials through the region.
In their final communique, Forum leaders recognize the continued
presence
of radioactive contaminants in the Republic of the Marshall
Islands. The
leaders "reaffirmed the existence of a special responsibility
by the United
States towards the people of the Marshall Islands" adversely
affected as a
direct result of U.S. nuclear weapons tests of the 1950s.
A five year Nationwide Radiological Survey study of 432 islands
in the
Marshalls was funded by the U.S. and conducted by the Marshall
Islands
government. Presented in 1994, it shows that 15 atolls and single
islands -
almost half the nation - were dusted by radioactive fallout.
Begun in 1946,
the last nuclear detonation in the Marshall Islands took place
on August
18, 1958 bringing to 66 the total number of nuclear weapons
tests at Bikini
and Enewetak. The people suffer thyroid tumors, and a higher
than normal
incidence of growth retardation. The 1986 Compact of Free Association
prohibits Marshall Islanders from seeking future legal redress
in U.S.
courts and dismissed all current court cases in exchange for
a $150 million
compensation trust fund.
The Forum noted the Secretary General’s report on the South
Pacific Nuclear
Free Zone Treaty and called on the United States to ratify the
protocols to
the treaty as a means of enhancing global and regional peace
and security,
including global nuclear non-proliferation.
The 33rd Pacific Islands Forum was attended by heads of state
and
government of Australia, the Cook Islands, Federated States
of Micronesia,
the Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau,
Papua New
Guinea, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands,
Tonga,
Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
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