ID :
62076
Sun, 05/24/2009 - 05:55
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/62076
The shortlink copeid
FOCUS: Japan hopes islands summit pledge will boost profile on climate change
SHIMUKAPPU, Japan, May 23 Kyodo -
With a pledge of 50 billion yen in aid over three years to Pacific island
nations facing threats from global warming, Japan hopes its latest package will
boost its own profile in a year expected to become a cornerstone for a global
carbon emissions framework.
At the fifth Japan-Pacific Islands Forum summit that ended Saturday, the
leaders of Japan and 16 other countries and areas agreed to form the ''Pacific
Environmental Community'' in showing their eagerness to play an active role
ahead of a key U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December.
The meeting in Denmark is to adopt a new carbon-capping pact that would replace
the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Japan took the initiative in the drive and the assistance it pledged includes
providing solar panels for energy generation and devices to desalinate seawater
-- an area enabling Japan to demonstrate various environment-related
technologies.
''We'd like to present the rest of the world with our technologies and show
that we realize the importance of striking a balance between the environment
and economic activities,'' a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said,
referring to the aid package revealed Saturday at the northern resort of
Tomamu, Hokkaido.
At the two-day summit, the leaders of the island nations expressed a strong
sense of crisis over rising sea levels triggered by global warming, with one
participant describing the situation as ''terrorism.''
Nobuo Mimura, professor and director of the Institute for Global Change
Adaptation Science at Ibaraki University, said the major significance of this
meeting was to listen to the needs of the island nations and convey their views
to the rest of the world.
''The Pacific islands are not only vulnerable to sea-level rises and (natural)
disasters but also face difficulties'' in fully utilizing water and agriculture
resources because of sparse populations, Mimura said.
Critics say Tokyo is also trying to differentiate its assistance in the recent
aid packages to the Pacific islands from China and Taiwan.
Most of the Pacific Islands Forum members that attended the meeting in Hokkaido
have votes in the United Nations, where Japan has long been seeking a permanent
seat on the Security Council, and their votes have the same weight as political
and economic powers.
China and Taiwan, for their parts, have been stepping up their efforts to boost
their influence on these Pacific nations by holding similar multilateral
exchanges with leaders of Pacific countries and offering economic assistance,
Foreign Ministry officials said.
Their moves have apparently put pressure on Japan, which had pledged a 45
billion yen program at the previous Pacific islands summit three years ago but
raised the amount by 5 billion yen this time. Moreover, Prime Minister Taro Aso
took the unconventional step of holding bilateral meetings with each leader of
the nations on the sidelines of the just-ended summit.
Already at the 2006 summit, Japan announced that it would boost its aid to the
island nations to 45 billion yen over three years, up sharply from an annual
program of about 10.5 billion yen it had provided earlier. The upgrading came
shortly after China announced an aid package worth about 44 billion yen in
three-year loans to its partners from the Pacific.
These islands countries ''are very important and pro-Japan partners, and we
need to make our ties stronger as various countries are developing an interest
in them,'' the Foreign Ministry official said.
Masako Konishi, who heads a climate change project at the Conservation Division
at WWF Japan, called for establishing a more efficient aid system in order for
island nations to receive funds in a sustainable manner.
''Rather than a promise to give a certain amount of money on a certain
occasion, developed nations, which have been emitting (large amounts of
greenhouse gases), should set up such a system as a way of compensation to
these Pacific island nations,'' she said.
==Kyodo
With a pledge of 50 billion yen in aid over three years to Pacific island
nations facing threats from global warming, Japan hopes its latest package will
boost its own profile in a year expected to become a cornerstone for a global
carbon emissions framework.
At the fifth Japan-Pacific Islands Forum summit that ended Saturday, the
leaders of Japan and 16 other countries and areas agreed to form the ''Pacific
Environmental Community'' in showing their eagerness to play an active role
ahead of a key U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December.
The meeting in Denmark is to adopt a new carbon-capping pact that would replace
the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Japan took the initiative in the drive and the assistance it pledged includes
providing solar panels for energy generation and devices to desalinate seawater
-- an area enabling Japan to demonstrate various environment-related
technologies.
''We'd like to present the rest of the world with our technologies and show
that we realize the importance of striking a balance between the environment
and economic activities,'' a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said,
referring to the aid package revealed Saturday at the northern resort of
Tomamu, Hokkaido.
At the two-day summit, the leaders of the island nations expressed a strong
sense of crisis over rising sea levels triggered by global warming, with one
participant describing the situation as ''terrorism.''
Nobuo Mimura, professor and director of the Institute for Global Change
Adaptation Science at Ibaraki University, said the major significance of this
meeting was to listen to the needs of the island nations and convey their views
to the rest of the world.
''The Pacific islands are not only vulnerable to sea-level rises and (natural)
disasters but also face difficulties'' in fully utilizing water and agriculture
resources because of sparse populations, Mimura said.
Critics say Tokyo is also trying to differentiate its assistance in the recent
aid packages to the Pacific islands from China and Taiwan.
Most of the Pacific Islands Forum members that attended the meeting in Hokkaido
have votes in the United Nations, where Japan has long been seeking a permanent
seat on the Security Council, and their votes have the same weight as political
and economic powers.
China and Taiwan, for their parts, have been stepping up their efforts to boost
their influence on these Pacific nations by holding similar multilateral
exchanges with leaders of Pacific countries and offering economic assistance,
Foreign Ministry officials said.
Their moves have apparently put pressure on Japan, which had pledged a 45
billion yen program at the previous Pacific islands summit three years ago but
raised the amount by 5 billion yen this time. Moreover, Prime Minister Taro Aso
took the unconventional step of holding bilateral meetings with each leader of
the nations on the sidelines of the just-ended summit.
Already at the 2006 summit, Japan announced that it would boost its aid to the
island nations to 45 billion yen over three years, up sharply from an annual
program of about 10.5 billion yen it had provided earlier. The upgrading came
shortly after China announced an aid package worth about 44 billion yen in
three-year loans to its partners from the Pacific.
These islands countries ''are very important and pro-Japan partners, and we
need to make our ties stronger as various countries are developing an interest
in them,'' the Foreign Ministry official said.
Masako Konishi, who heads a climate change project at the Conservation Division
at WWF Japan, called for establishing a more efficient aid system in order for
island nations to receive funds in a sustainable manner.
''Rather than a promise to give a certain amount of money on a certain
occasion, developed nations, which have been emitting (large amounts of
greenhouse gases), should set up such a system as a way of compensation to
these Pacific island nations,'' she said.
==Kyodo
