What action has the Commonwealth states of 50-plus nations done together ahead of the Copenhagen meeting?
From tvnz.co.nz: Commonwealth supports climate change declaration The Commonwealth’s bloc of 50-plus nations has thrown its support behind a climate change declaration ahead of the United Nations summit in Copenhagen. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who helped draw up the three-page document, said the consensus reached at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) underway in Trinidad and Tobago is a “significant step forward” to securing a comprehensive agreement in Copenhagen. The declaration is supported by India, Britain and Bangladesh and other populous Commonwealth nations that account for one-third of the world’s population as well as tiny countries including Kiribati and Maldives. The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration does not set emission targets or commitments. It calls for “an internationally legally binding agreement” to be hatched in Copenhagen and recognises “the need for an early peaking year for global emissions”. “In Copenhagen we commit to focus
Leaders say momentum building on climate change By BEN FOX (AP) – 2 hours ago PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Leaders of the Commonwealth countries called Saturday for a legally binding international agreement on climate change and a global fund with billions of dollars to help poorer countries meet its mandates. The 53-nation meeting was the largest gathering of world leaders before next month’s global climate summit in Copenhagen. The leaders said a deal should be adopted no later than next year and the support money should be available simultaneously, providing up to $10 billion a year starting in 2012. At least 10 percent of the fund, the group said, should be dedicated to small island and low-lying coastal nations, which are at risk of catastrophic changes from global warming. “Climate change is the predominant global challenge,” the Commonwealth leaders, meeting in the twin-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, said in a declaration. “For some of us, it is an existential thre
