International leaders at the G8 summit in Italy pledged last week to keep global temperature increases below 2 degrees -- the limit set by scientists before irreversible damage is done -- but failed to outline actions to achieve this goal, warns an environmental protection group.
What's the Story?
To ensure that global temperatures don't warm more than 2 degrees, G8 countries -- the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom -- plan to reduce their emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050.
The conservation organization WWF "welcomes the leaders' initiative, but the lack of an agreement on ambitious midterm emissions reduction targets, clear financial commitments, and a date for global peak and decline of emissions could turn the 2 degree commitment into an empty statement," says a release on the group's Web site.
"Without setting the path to reduce emissions, the actual obligations of countries will be watered down, and staying below 2 degrees will be impossible," noted Kim Carstensen, the leader of WWF's global climate campaign.
To ensure they are on track to meet the long-term goal, continued WWF, industrialized nations should take immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent in the next 10 years. In addition, said the organization, the G8 should also provide funds to help developing countries adapt to climate change and cut their own emissions. (See the WWF's full statement below.)
G8 Fails on Midterm Emissions Goal
In addition to reducing their own emissions 80 percent by midcentury, the G8 also agreed that total global emissions should be cut in half by 2050. But in the absence of a firm timeline for the next 40 years, advocacy groups are cautioning that a strong foundation has not yet been laid for an effective global climate change treaty, to be concluded at an upcoming meeting in Copenhagen, now just five months away.
"The failure to reach agreement on emissions reductions targets in Italy this week was a timely reminder that in the half-year since President Barack Obama took office, world leaders have made little progress in bridging the key issues that must be resolved in order to achieve an effective climate agreement in Copenhagen," wrote Christopher Flavin, president of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based environmental think tank.
The poverty alleviation organization ActionAid also chastised G8 countries for not making a firmer commitment, calling the twin goals of reducing emissions from the world's wealthiest countries by 80 percent and halving global emissions by 2050 "too little, too late."
"The global target the G8 agreed to...is too far away," said Angela Wauye, ActionAid's food rights coordinator. "Ask the 230 million hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa, who are already suffering the impact of climate change, if they can wait until 2050."
Changing weather patterns are contributing to hunger and food shortages in developing countries around the world. In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, and Zambia climate change has adversely affected agriculture, causing local food prices to rise, reports ActionAid.
G8 Commits to Food Aid
The G8's announcement last Friday to invest $20 billion over three years in agriculture development was "the only bright spot of the summit," remarked Oxfam's Gawain Kripke.
"There is an urgent need for decisive action to free humankind from hunger and poverty," said the G8 leaders in a joint statement. "Food security is closely connected with economic growth and social progress as well as with political stability and peace."
The UN food and agriculture agency greeted the pledge as an "encouraging policy shift to help the poor and hungry." Some organizations, however, view it as an "old fashioned" way of tackling food issues, reports the development and technology news outlet SciDev.net.
Meanwhile, Action Against Hunger (AAH) is urging the Obama administration not to overlook the immediate crisis of acute malnutrition. Applauding the Obama administration for taking a leadership role on hunger, AAH is calling for funding to scale up existing programs serving people already suffering from food shortages.
"Acute malnutrition is predictable, cost-effective to treat, and simple to prevent; it's a tragedy that should not exist in the 21st century," said the aid group.
'A Long Way to Go'
Some humanitarian organizations remain extremely skeptical that the agreements made by the G8 will have a lasting effect.
According to the anti-poverty agency Mercy Corps, a 2005 G8 pledge to increase yearly international aid by $50 billion by 2010 is well behind schedule.
Similarly, Joanne Green, head of policy for the Catholic relief group CAFOD, lamented:"The G8 has reaffirmed its aid promises to the world's poorest, but let's not forget that that's just saying 'we'll actually do what we said we'd do four years ago'... When the language of the communiqué is so heavily infused with enthusiasm rather than solid action, we have to be skeptical."
"This summit has been a shambles, it did nothing for Africa, and the world is still being cooked," concluded Jeremy Hobbs
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