U.N. climate talks threaten our survival: Saudi Arabia
By Gerard Wynn, Reuters":http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5371QM20090408?sp=true
Contrasting interests of different countries are challenging faltering climate talks, meant to forge by December a new global deal in Copenhagen to curb man-made climate change.
Small island states say their survival is threatened by rising seas. But Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, says it could suffer from any pact which curbs oil demand by penalizing carbon emissions.
“It’s a matter of survival for us, also. So we are among the most vulnerable countries, economically,” Mohammad Al Sabban told Reuters on the fringes of talks which end on Wednesday, after the latest in a series of meetings meant to thrash out a deal to replace or extend the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.
“Saudi Arabia has not done that much yet to diversify.”
Other divisions in the talks include rich versus poor, nations which contribute more to climate change than others, and countries more vulnerable to sea level rise, floods and droughts.
Saudi Arabia wants support, for example, to develop alternative energy sources and to earn credits for burying greenhouse gases underground in near-depleted oil wells.
Continue reading at Reuters
Photo: KB35/Flickr
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