By Julio Godoy
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, Jun 6 2007 (IPS)

The summit of the heads of government of the eight most industrialised countries opened Wednesday in this Baltic seaside resort, surrounded by impressive security measures, and dominated by a total cacophony on the group’s efforts to curb climate change.

The summit of the heads of government of the eight most industrialised countries opened Wednesday in this Baltic seaside resort, surrounded by impressive security measures, and dominated by a total cacophony on the group’s efforts to curb climate change.

The leaders from the G8 countries – Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States – joined the summit’s host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Wednesday in Heiligendamm, where the debates start Thursday.

The heads of government of the five strongest developing economies, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa, will also be participating in the summit.

Some 16,000 police officers and more than 1,500 soldiers are patrolling the summit’s site and its neighbourhoods, in an attempt to stop demonstrators from all over the world from disrupting the debates.

Although police had barred streets and other entry points leading to Heiligendamm already on Monday, and German justice authorities had forbidden demonstrations in the immediate surroundings of the resort, numerous anti-globalisation activists were able to reach the concrete and barbed-wire fence the German government allowed to be built around the village, to isolate the heads of government during the three-day meet.

At the same time, up to 10,000 demonstrators, mostly young people from Germany and other European countries, were blocking streets and routes leading to the seaside resort. Other demonstrators were marching across fields to reach the fence surrounding Heiligendamm, and many were also gathered in the nearby villages of Bad Doberan and Kuehlungsborn.

Most of the demonstrations were peaceful, but some reports, including from police sources, said that security forces by Wednesday noon had started to disperse protesters using tear gas and water cannons, and were attacking individual demonstrators with nightsticks.

In the meantime, the preparatory debates in the G8 summit’s attempt at consensus on setting binding reductions on greenhouse gases emissions reach a new noise level.

While the U.S. government again made clear that it would not endorse an international agreement establishing a timeline and specific caps on greenhouse gases emissions, the German and British heads of government expressed hope that an agreement on the issue could still be reach in Heiligendamm.

James Connaughton, U.S. President George W. Bush’s environmental adviser, said Tuesday evening in Berlin that his government was “At this point in time… not prepared to adopt” the proposal advanced by Chancellor Merkel for an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2050, in order to avert a global temperature rise of two degrees Celsius, the range recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to avoid major disruptions of the world environmental balance.

Merkel had hoped this agreement could be signed here by the close of the summit.

But Connaughton said the “G8 does not set domestic policy”, and added that it was up to each country “to set those goals.” The United States, he added, preferred “a national approach that should take into account the circumstances” of each country.

Despite this refusal, both Merkel and Prime Minister Tony Blair continued to express hopes that an agreement on averting global warming can be reached at Heiligendamm.

Blair insisted that he could persuade President Bush to agree for the first time to a global target for a “substantial cut” in greenhouse gases within a framework sanctioned by the United Nations.

Blair even praised the last-minute U.S. proposal on climate change that rejects establishing clear, binding emission reductions, saying it is “significant and important”. But independent analysts see it as a U.S. attempt to circumvent a valid agreement with legal teeth from taking effect in 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions reductions expires.

“I think the announcement by President Bush last week was significant and important, and it is absurd to say otherwise, since it moved things on,” Blair said. “On the other hand, you then need to flesh out what it means.”

According to observers, Merkel, after having realised that the U.S. rejection of her own plans would transform the G8 summit into a personal defeat, was now hoping to at least obtain from Bush the guarantee that Washington would participate in debates on global warming within the UN framework.

And Bush did just that on Wednesday. His own plan would “fold into the UN framework,” he told the press after arriving at Heiligendamm.

But the damage to Merkel’s reputation was done.

The German Green Party Chair Renate Kuenast called Merkel “a naïve negotiator. The G8 and the global UN climate process are before a heap of shards, thanks to the U.S. refusal” to accept binding caps on greenhouse emissions, she said in Berlin.

According to Kuenast, who until December 2005 served as Germany’s minister of agriculture and consumer protection, said that Merkel, as chair of the G8, should have made clear “many months ago that she would not accept non-committal declarations on climate change issues.”

“But Merkel was too naïve and has too long believed that Bush would cooperate,” she said.

For Tobias Muenchmeyer, climate expert at the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, the G8 plus the five strongest developing economies summit was the perfect scenario to put forward ambitious plans for averting global warming.

“At Heiligendamm are gathered now the governments of the countries responsible for 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases,” Muenchmeyer told IPS. “It was the perfect opportunity to agree to reducing emissions by 50 percent by the year 2050, in order to reduce the rising of global temperatures at two Celsius degrees.”

But neither the U.S. nor Chinese governments – two major world polluters – are ready to participate in such a global plan, Muenchmeyer said. Now, Merkel should work towards an agreement with “the other countries, instead of accepting a weak compromise with the U.S.”

On Thursday and Friday, the G8 heads of government will also be discussing issues such as growth and responsibility in the global economy, African development, current foreign policy issues, and new impetus for the Doha Development Round on international trade. The debates on climate change and energy efficiency are set to take place Thursday afternoon.

Excerpt:

By Julio Godoy
HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, Jun 6 2007 (IPS)

The summit of the heads of government of the eight most industrialised countries opened Wednesday in this Baltic seaside resort, surrounded by impressive security measures, and dominated by a total cacophony on the group’s efforts to curb climate change.

Activists cross a field to reach the G8 summit. Credit: Indymedia Germany

The heads of government of the five strongest developing economies, Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa, will also be participating in the summit.

Some 16,000 police officers and more than 1,500 soldiers are patrolling the summit’s site and its neighbourhoods, in an attempt to stop demonstrators from all over the world from disrupting the debates.

Although police had barred streets and other entry points leading to Heiligendamm already on Monday, and German justice authorities had forbidden demonstrations in the immediate surroundings of the resort, numerous anti-globalisation activists were able to reach the concrete and barbed-wire fence the German government allowed to be built around the village, to isolate the heads of government during the three-day meet.

According to a police spokesperson, some 1,000 demonstrators were able on Wednesday morning to circumvent the controls, and had reached the fence surrounding Heiligendamm, which was supposed to be out of range of protesters.

Most of the demonstrations were peaceful, but some reports, including from police sources, said that security forces by Wednesday noon had started to disperse protesters using tear gas and water cannons, and were attacking individual demonstrators with nightsticks.

In the meantime, the preparatory debates in the G8 summit’s attempt at consensus on setting binding reductions on greenhouse gases emissions reach a new noise level.

While the U.S. government again made clear that it would not endorse an international agreement establishing a timeline and specific caps on greenhouse gases emissions, the German and British heads of government expressed hope that an agreement on the issue could still be reach in Heiligendamm.

James Connaughton, U.S. President George W. Bush’s environmental adviser, said Tuesday evening in Berlin that his government was “At this point in time… not prepared to adopt” the proposal advanced by Chancellor Merkel for an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2050, in order to avert a global temperature rise of two degrees Celsius, the range recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to avoid major disruptions of the world environmental balance.

Merkel had hoped this agreement could be signed here by the close of the summit.

But Connaughton said the “G8 does not set domestic policy”, and added that it was up to each country “to set those goals.” The United States, he added, preferred “a national approach that should take into account the circumstances” of each country.

Despite this refusal, both Merkel and Prime Minister Tony Blair continued to express hopes that an agreement on averting global warming can be reached at Heiligendamm.

Blair insisted that he could persuade President Bush to agree for the first time to a global target for a “substantial cut” in greenhouse gases within a framework sanctioned by the United Nations.

Blair even praised the last-minute U.S. proposal on climate change that rejects establishing clear, binding emission reductions, saying it is “significant and important”. But independent analysts see it as a U.S. attempt to circumvent a valid agreement with legal teeth from taking effect in 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions reductions expires.

“I think the announcement by President Bush last week was significant and important, and it is absurd to say otherwise, since it moved things on,” Blair said. “On the other hand, you then need to flesh out what it means.”

According to observers, Merkel, after having realised that the U.S. rejection of her own plans would transform the G8 summit into a personal defeat, was now hoping to at least obtain from Bush the guarantee that Washington would participate in debates on global warming within the UN framework.

And Bush did just that on Wednesday. His own plan would “fold into the UN framework,” he told the press after arriving at Heiligendamm.

But the damage to Merkel’s reputation was done.

The German Green Party Chair Renate Kuenast called Merkel “a naïve negotiator. The G8 and the global UN climate process are before a heap of shards, thanks to the U.S. refusal” to accept binding caps on greenhouse emissions, she said in Berlin.

According to Kuenast, who until December 2005 served as Germany’s minister of agriculture and consumer protection, said that Merkel, as chair of the G8, should have made clear “many months ago that she would not accept non-committal declarations on climate change issues.”

“But Merkel was too naïve and has too long believed that Bush would cooperate,” she said.

For Tobias Muenchmeyer, climate expert at the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, the G8 plus the five strongest developing economies summit was the perfect scenario to put forward ambitious plans for averting global warming.

“At Heiligendamm are gathered now the governments of the countries responsible for 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases,” Muenchmeyer told IPS. “It was the perfect opportunity to agree to reducing emissions by 50 percent by the year 2050, in order to reduce the rising of global temperatures at two Celsius degrees.”

But neither the U.S. nor Chinese governments – two major world polluters – are ready to participate in such a global plan, Muenchmeyer said. Now, Merkel should work towards an agreement with “the other countries, instead of accepting a weak compromise with the U.S.”

On Thursday and Friday, the G8 heads of government will also be discussing issues such as growth and responsibility in the global economy, African development, current foreign policy issues, and new impetus for the Doha Development Round on international trade. The debates on climate change and energy efficiency are set to take place Thursday afternoon.

Excerpt: