Lawmakers from the Group of Eight (G8) nations, plus five major developing countries, said many governments are doing too little to back up their rhetoric about the perils of climate change.
The group’s three-year goal is to monitor global warming and the work being done to reduce it, and to force governments of both developed and developing nations worldwide to pick up the pace. The group will report its findings at the twice annual meetings of G8 leaders and environment and energy ministers, and seek to produce specific policy proposals in time for the G8 summit in Japan in 2008.
"Climate change is both a national and a global problem and an issue that transcends political affiliations," said Joan Ruddock, British parliamentarian and co-chair of the new Climate Change Dialogue initiative, in a news conference interview reported by Reuters.
Bryon Wilfert, a Canadian parliamentarian, said governments had not done enough to address the global warming crisis that threatens to destroy millions of lives worldwide in the years to come.
"There is an urgency that not all players grasp or share," Wilfert said. While he did not name names, most observers agreed he was alluding to the United States’ refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition to officials from the G8 nations—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Russian Federation—the group backing the new initiative also includes lawmakers from the developing countries of India, China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, and businesses or institutions such as the World Bank, the International Energy Agency, and petroleum company BP.
More Information:
World Lawmakers Set up Global Warming Monitor Group – Jeremy Lovell, Reuters
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