posted on 11th November 2001

Climate Change Cost Jump
(Photo shows Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco)

NOTE: The New Zealand Government is the first to commit to signing the
Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change.

MARRAKECH, Morocco, November 7, 2001 (ENS) - Ministers and heads of
government met today at the High-Level Segment of COP-7, the 7th Conference
of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. They are
working against a deadline of Friday night to finalize the rulebook for the
Kyoto climate protocol that will limit the emission of greenhouse gases by
industrialized nations.

This morning delegates heard speeches from representatives of UN bodies and
specialized agencies. The afternoon and evening were filled with statements
from 44 ministers and other heads of delegation. Prince Moulay Rachid of
the host country Morocco, speaking on behalf of King Mohammed VI,
emphasized the need for internationally shared ethical values and
environmental concerns. He called for technology transfer, additional
financial resources, and reduction of external debt burdens.

Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) addressed the delegates on behalf of UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan. He highlighted the urgent need for long term changes in social
and economic behaviors to counteract climate change. Toepfer urged
delegates "to remember the billions of people living at or near the poverty
line whose lives face ruin as a result of global warming. Delegates are
here to agree the operational rule book for fighting climate change. This
must not only be agreed and be effective, but brought into force as matter
of urgency," he said.

UNEP today released scientific evidence that that rising temperatures,
linked with emissions of greenhouse gases, can damage the ability of vital
crops such as rice, corn and wheat, to flower and set seed. Key cash crops
such as coffee and tea in some of the major growing regions will also be
vulnerable over the coming decades to global warming.

At a time when there is an urgent need to raise crop yields to feed a
growing global population, harvests of some of the world's most important
foods could fall by as much as a third as a result of climate change,
scientists are warning. The findings on staple food crops have come from
researchers at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) based in
Manila, Philippines, which is part of the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research. The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) has worked with members of this Group on issues such as
agro-forestry over recent years. "A similar threat to cash crops is also
emerging in areas such as East Africa," Toepfer said. "Poor farmers here
face declining yields and incomes in the traditional coffee and tea growing
areas pushing them into even more biting poverty. Just to survive, they
will be forced to clear forests in higher, cooler, areas. This can only add
to environmental damage which in turn can lead to increased poverty, hunger
and ill health."

The findings on cash crops have come from GRID Arendal, a UNEP
collaborative center based in southern Norway, known for its mapping
skills. New studies indicate that for every one degree Celsius rise in
areas such as the Tropics, crop yields could drop by as much as 10 percent.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the team of
scientists that advises governments, estimate that average, global,
temperatures in the Tropics could climb by as much as three degrees C by
2100. Under scenarios developed by the IPCC, climate change could benefit
agricultural production in some areas of the globe such as Canada and
Siberia.

The negotiators worked through to an agreement on compliance with the
limitations on the emission of six greenhouse gases - a contentious section
of the Kyoto Protocol rulebook. Delegates also adopted draft conclusions on
the provision of financial and technical support. A number of key issues
have yet to be resolved.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, an addition UN framework climate change treaty,
38 industrialized nations have agreed to cut their emissions of six
greenhouse gases linked to global warming. Thirty-nine were to have been
governed by the original agreement signed in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997,
but the Bush administration in March said that the United States would not
ratify the protocol. The Kyoto Protocol will not take effect until it is
ratified by 55 percent of the nations responsible for at least 55 percent
of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990.

The countries who ratify must reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and five
other gases to an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during the five
year period 2008 to 2012.