KENYA: Ireland is prepared to "move on quickly to the next step" of negotiating deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions after the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires, according to Minister for the Environment Dick Roche.
Addressing the UN Climate Change Summit in Nairobi, he said the "economic imperative" for early action had been demonstrated by the British government's recent Stern review. "The science underpins the need to act now, and to act quickly."
Although Taoiseach Bertie Ahern made no reference to global warming in his recent Fianna Fáil adfheis speech, Mr Roche told delegates representing some 180 countries that the Government "supports the climate change agenda".
"As a Government and as a people, we are committed to meeting our greenhouse gas emission reduction target" under the Kyoto Protocol through the EU emissions trading scheme, "other domestic measures" and the purchase of credits abroad.
The Minister announced that Ireland would contribute to developing the Global Climate Observation System (GCOS) in Africa to compile data on climate change in 2007 and 2008 and help in planning "adaption responses" in affected areas.
"It is our wish that further engagement - through the Clean Development Mechanism [ of the Kyoto Protocol] - will be possible soon," he said. This allows rich countries to claim credits by assisting sustainable development in poorer ones.
Mr Roche welcomed the focus of delegates on addressing the "huge difficulties" which African countries, particularly the least developed ones, were facing in participating successfully in the mechanism.
"We feel that there should be a mechanism within the CDM to ring-fence a portion of the funds for their specific needs. It is critical to ensure that the distribution of CDM funds is not skewed in a way that further disadvantages the world's poorest."
He stressed that tackling greenhouse gas emissions need not imperil economic development, and said Ireland had "managed to decouple" rising emissions from economic growth, despite the "phenomenal" success of the Irish economy since 1990.
"When we signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, we did so in the knowledge that it was only a first step, and that further action post-2012 would be required," he said. "We are prepared to engage constructively in discussions on the next step."
This would involve "an equitable and effective future climate change regime that enables us to stabilise atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases while at the same time allowing economic development to proceed in a sustainable way".
But Mr Roche made it clear that the enormity of this task was "way beyond the reach of any one party or the group of parties that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol". However, he said it was achievable if "we move on quickly to the next step".
The developed countries which had signed the protocol were "leading by their example" and he hoped that this would inspire other parties to the framework convention to join them.