CANADA: Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) has accused Canada's new conservative government, led by prime minister Stephen Harper, of "trying to sabotage 15 years of international efforts to address climate change".
It made the claim in a statement issued at the weekend from Bonn, where representatives of more than 160 countries are involved in another round of UN-sponsored talks on what to do about global warming.
"Revelations about the highly confidential diplomatic instructions given to Canadian diplomats confirm the intentions of the Canadian Conservative government to paralyse the process," the FoEI said.
"Despite its public comments, Canada has a secret hidden agenda to try and derail international negotiations," the statement claimed. The aim was to ensure that other industrialised countries made no new commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"Canada will not support agreement on language in the work programme that commits developed countries to more stringent targets in the future [ after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012]," according to the telexed instructions from Ottawa.
"Canada does not support a continuation of the status quo beyond 2012, and has no preconceived view on how a new commitment period might be structured," they said.
Furthermore, Canada would "resist any pressure to take on a more stringent target".