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U.N. to focus on warming
Leaders meet today, but Bush holds back.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 24, 2007
UNITED NATIONS - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore and the leaders of 80 nations converge on the United Nations today for a summit on global warming and what to do about it. "I expect the meeting on Monday to express a sense of urgency in terms of negotiating progress that needs to be made," said the U.N. climate chief, Yvo de Boer. President Bush, who has long opposed negotiated limits on the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, will not participate in the day's meetings, but will attend a small dinner this evening, a gathering of key players hosted U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. On Thursday and Friday, Bush will host his own two-day climate meeting in Washington, limited to 16 "major emitter" countries, first in a series of such gatherings that environmentalists fear may undercut the global U.N. negotiating process. What is being discussed under the U.N. umbrella is an effort, focused on December's annual climate treaty conference in Bali, Indonesia, to launch negotiations for an emissions-reduction agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. The 1997 Kyoto pact, which the United States rejects, requires 36 industrial nations to reduce carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases - emitted by power plants and other industrial, agricultural and transportation sources - by an average 5 percent by 2012. Today's event, designed to build political momentum for the Bali talks, will feature California Gov. Schwarzenegger as one opening speaker, representing local governments worldwide. The Republican governor and the California Legislature, which is led by Democrats, have pioneered state-level greenhouse-gas caps in the United States. Gore, the climate campaigner and former Democratic vice president, will be a luncheon keynote speaker. Fast facts Mideast talks The United States will invite 12 Arab nations to President Bush's peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this fall, a U.S. official said Sunday at briefings at the United Nations. The 12 Arab nations are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.
[Last modified September 23, 2007, 23:40:14]
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