During a speech at the 15th UN Conference on Climate Change (COP-15), Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva repeated his call today, December 17, for the preservation of the Kyoto Protocol and demanded that rich countries make commitments in order to reach a deal in Copenhagen.
"Here in Copenhagen there is no place for conformity. Developed countries should take on ambitious targets to reduce emissions up to their historical responsibilities and the challenge we face," he said.
"The time to act is now. The verdict of history will not spare those who fail their responsibilities this time," he added. Lula complained that countries with less responsibility for the emissions of greenhouse gases are the main victims of climate change.
He recalled that the Kyoto Protocol sets mandatory funding to poor and developing countries to implement projects in the area. According to the president, it will be very difficult to build adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable nations without an intensive cash flow.
"Market mechanisms can be very useful, but they will never have the magnitude or the predictability we really want," the president stated. "This conference is not a game where you can hide cards up your sleeve. If we are waiting for the move of our partners, we may find that it will be too late. We will all be losers," he added. He noted that "the fragility of some cannot be used as a pretext for the decline of others."
According to the president, it's not "politically rational" or "morally justified" that rich countries put corporate and industry interests above humankind's common good.
ABr
