Representatives of 26 countries attending the fourth plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) were advised to support efforts to reach a global resolution at the climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The statement was made by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his opening address for the APA, in front of the 192 delegates from 26 countries, at Merdeka Building here Tuesday.
Yudhoyono said he hoped the 15th Conference of Parties (COP-15) on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen would result in a global consensus that would be more effective than the Kyoto Protocal in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“The APA, which represents Asian people, is expected to help the Copenhagen conference succeed, and at the same time to safeguard agreements reached there,” he said.
The Copenhagen agreement would be linked directly to the future of humankind and the planet, Yudhoyono said.
“We hope the parliamentary meeting will be an initial step in the mission for global justice at the Copenhagen meeting,” said Muhammad Najib, the deputy chairman of the Committee for inter-Parliamentary Cooperation at the Indonesian House of Representatives, who is also one of Indonesia’s delegates at COP-15.
Asian nations had to recognize the global injustice whereby developed nations had enjoyed extraordinary advancement and welfare through the process of the destruction of natural resources and expected developing countries not to do the same, Najib said.
Global justice will be an important factor in addressing climate change, he said.
“There should at least be moral sanctions for countries that fail to reach emissions reduction targets,” he said.
Meanwhile, Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono said Indonesia could change its emissions reduction target by up to 41 percent by the year 2020 if there was sufficient financing.
Indonesia’s target to reduce emission by 26 percent by 2020 showed Indonesia’s commitment to fighting climate change, which could be emulated by other major greenhouse gas emitting countries, Agung said.
“Developed countries have to copy the examples set by developing nations such as Indonesia, which has targeted to reduce emissions by 26 percent to help prevent an increase in global temperatures of between 1 and 2.5 percent,” he said.
The most severe impacts of global warming, Agung said, would be felt by countries on the equator, in particular those comprising archipelagic areas where temperatures and sea levels have already begun to increase.
A Bandung resolution draft, expected to be approved by all delegates at the parliamentary meeting, was being deliberated and discussed by small groups at the Savoy Homann Hotel in Bandung as of Tuesday, and was expected to be signed at the end of the meeting on Thursday.
