ASIA-PACIFIC/ENVIRONMENT: APEC Soft On Global Warming

By Paul Weinberg Reprint | | Print |

Paul Weinberg

TORONTO, Jun 13 1997 (IPS) - The United States is pressing countries within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) to take on more responsibilities in efforts to curb global warming.

This week’s meeting of environment ministers from 18 Pacific Rim countries — held in advance of the December meeting in Japan of signatories to the international convention on climate change — ended with calls for more workshops, studies, and consultations on the issues.

But the U.S. delegation called for a tough action plan on pollution and global warming.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Eileen Claussen stressed the need for “binding targets” in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from cars and industry, the source of greenhouse gases that are believed to cause global warming. She stressed that the APEC economies contribute almost half of the global emissions of the earth-warming gases.

Ongoing APEC discussions regarding environmental protections have achieved “some useful blueprints for moving forward in specific areas,” stated Claussen. But more is required from member countries “to reinvigorate the negotiations and steer them in a direction that gives us some chance of success.”

“Many people have real doubts about whether APEC can evolve into a credible force for environmental protection,” she told the Jun. 9-11 conference of officials from APEC, which will hold its summit meeting of government leaders in Vancouver in November.

With its eyes on the climate change meeting in Japan in December, Washington is increasing the heat on the newly industrialising countries within APEC “to take on some responsibility” for global warming, according to Doug Russell, a former Canadian representative in global climate change negotiations.

“The Americans are very strong on the notion of a legally binding cap (on carbon emissions by the major industrial countries),” says Russell.

But he adds that while the European Union (EU) has already stated its willingness to accept at least a 10 percent cut below 1990 levels of carbon dioxide emissions, the United States probably will not announce a target until the Kyoto meeting.

Under the terms of the climate change convention devised at the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, all countries must prepare a full inventory of greenhouse gas emissions as well as a national climate plan. But only industrialised countries are required to hold their emissions of greenhouse gases at — or below — 1990 levels by the year 2000.

Analysts say that commitment is likely to be missed by roughly half the countries, with the United States and Japan already way off track.

In the meantime, APEC delegates have announced their commitment to a cleaner marine and ocean environment through performance measures and goals “in collaboration with the private sector,” as well as a less polluting industrial sector.

There is also a promise to double the number of cities in the region from the current 170 which are involved in APEC’s ‘Local Agenda’ process of public consultation, whose goal is to create a plan to improve the quality of life in urban areas which are expected to expand by 20 percent in the Pacific Rim by the year 2015.

But environmentalists and other activists who picketed APEC’s proceedings question whether any substantial environmental protection will result.

There is no regulatory framework for enforcement being proposed in these discussions, nor even a process where complaints can be launched by citizens or groups against APEC governments not fulfilling their obligations, says Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians.

“My belief is that APEC is designed by business for business to promote business,” Barlow told IPS. “It is exclusively about deregulation, privatisation, trade liberalisation, investment liberalisation.”

The APEC governments know there are two hot spots: human rights and the environment, she said.

“And when they are dealing with the (Pacific Rim) countries, they are dealing with people like (Chinese Premier) Li Peng and (Indonesian President) Suharto. They can’t do anything on human rights; the countries are balking at it. So they’ve convened this smoke screen of environment ministers to pretend they are actually doing something.”

Unfortunately, says Barlow, much of what transpires at the APEC conferences, where countries discuss what progress they have made in loosening internal regulations and barriers to trade, is kept “out of the public eye.”

The 18 APEC territories account for more than half the world’s economic output and about 40 percent of its population. They include: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States. Eleven other countries have applied for membership, including Russia, Vietnam, and Peru.

Unlike other international trade bodies, APEC functions solely on the basis of consensus and mutual agreement.