ASEAN Social Culture Community

ASEAN urged to lead climate talks : JAKARTA: A coalition of activists from the Greenpeace, Oxfam and WWF called on the leaders of ASEAN to take the higher ground during ongoing climate talks in Bangkok.

“We are sending a message to all delegates, especially ASEAN delegates, that a fair, ambitious, and binding global deal is a matter of survival for the people of Southeast Asia,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia policy adviser Zelda Soriano said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post.

Negotiators from the 190 countries are currently gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, in an attempt to narrow differences of the long-awaited treaty on emission cuts to deal with climate change.

This is the first formal meeting after last year’s conference in Cancun, Mexico.

“Indeed, in Southeast Asia in particular, climate change is not a debate but a grim reality. Our region is repeatedly assailed by an endless refrain of floods, landslides and drought,” Oxfam East Asia regional policy and campaigns coordinator Shalimar Vitan said.

“ASEAN delegates must therefore ensure that the adaptation gets much of the resources as it is more urgently needed and must demand much deeper emissions cuts from developed countries.”

Indonesia is the ASEAN chair this year. — JP