Poor Countries Won't Sign Global Warming Pact

[ben_meyers]

Poor Countries Won't Sign Global Warming Pact Unless Aid Is Guaranteed
4/1/2008 4:32:04 PM A group of poor countries told a U.N. conference aimed at concluding a new climate change agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol that they won't sign a global warming pact unless industrialized nations guarantee them billions of dollars needed to adapt to the impact of climate change.

Speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States on Tuesday, Selwin Hart, a delegate from Barbados, said, “If a deal on adaptation is not part of this agreement, we have no incentive to be part of it.”

Caribbean and South Pacific Island nations cited how they are being hit by worsening floods, rising seas and cyclones linked to climate change and said they don't have enough funds to build sea walls or relocate threatened villagers. “Adaptation is critical to our very survival,” Hart said.

The weeklong convention of the U.N. Framework on Climate Change was opened in Thailand on Monday. Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the organization, said it is essential to figure out what the industrialized world is willing to pay to help out poorer countries.

http://www.rttnews.com/forex/gblnews.asp