At Climate Summit, Governors acknowledge threat from global warming

November 19, 5:01 PMSacramento Environmental News ExaminerHarry Osibin

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Governor Schwarzenegger Wednesday joined 26 global leaders from six countries to sign a declaration acknowledging the threats of global warming to natural resources and economic prosperity and calling on states and provinces to build and strengthen cooperative efforts to implement strategies that can immediately reduce greenhouse gas emissions in advance of the next global agreement on climate change.

Office of the Governor 

The Governor spoke at length during the two-day climate summit declaring that, “Reversing the damage done by global warming is the great environmental challenge of the 21st Century.”  He says the declaration signed in Beverly Hills will establish a framework that should assist negotiators at upcoming climate change conferences in December in Poland and in 2009 in Denmark.  Representatives will be re-drafting strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other measures to mitigate the climate crisis.  The documents will succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

Sources from the Governor’s office indicate the declaration focuses efforts on the largest emitting sectors including forestry, agriculture, cement, iron, aluminum, energy and transportation.  Different sectors predominate more than others in different countries.  For instance, Governor Eduardo Bragas of the Brazilian state of Amazonas pointed out that in the USA, greenhouse gas emissions were generated 70% by the use of fossil fuels and 30% by deforestation but in Brazil the percentages were roughly reversed.  In other words, deforestation is a much greater concern in the South American country.

To help reduce staff costs, leaders agreed to utilize non-government organizations (NGO) such as The Climate Group, Environmental Defense Fund, International Council on Clean Transportation and Center for Clean Air Policy to provide staff support and specialized expertise to coordinate working groups and draft position papers. In many cases, these NGOs already are working on policy options to be considered by the global community and this helps relieve some of the fiscal burden from governments during this time of economic constraints.