Commonwealth warns of devastating impact of global warming
Pastor Dale Morgan
Commonwealth warns of devastating impact of global warming*
GEORGETOWN, Oct 14 (AFP) Oct 15, 2007
CNN-Global-warming and its devastating environmental effects were to top
the agenda of a two-day meeting of finance ministers from more than 50
Commonwealth countries due to open here Monday.
Ransford Smith, deputy secretary general of the 53-nation organization,
said the international community needs to balance economic growth with
the use of new and clean technologies because climate change would
adversely impact on agriculture outputs in many developing countries, as
well as employment patters and populations shifts.
"There will be other consequences that you need to be able to cost and
be aware of in making the chances," Smith told journalists here Sunday
ahead of the October 15-17 meeting whose theme is "Climate Change: The
Challenges Facing Finance Ministers."
The Commonwealth nations, sometimes known as the British Commonwealth,
is a voluntary association of 53 former British colonies which now are
sovereign states, plus the United Kingdom itself and Mozambique.
One topic of discussion is the severe weather that have affected
inhabitants of many of the member countries. Millions of people have
been victims of frequent and violent devastating storms and floods due
to rising sea levels and unusually heavy rainfalls.
Floods and droughts have been destroying properties, killing people and
wiping out agricultural activities and threatening livelihoods and food
security.
Jamaica-born Smith, who noted that the Commonwealth had been pointing to
the issue of climate change since 1987, expressed disappointment that it
was only in recent years that international financial agencies like the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have begun paying
attention to the issue.
"The issue has now become a global one because its global consequences,
it's global import, it's global implications have been recognized, and I
think that is part of the reason why it has taken some time, and I think
we must also be grateful that it has occurred even though we might be
disappointed that it has taken so long," he said.
The meeting's agenda included a Commonwealth Action Plan on reforming
the international aid architecture, public financial management and
gender responsive budgets.
The outcome of the meeting of Commonwealth finance ministers was
expected to affect board meetings of the IMF and World Bank scheduled
for October 20-22 in Washington.
The Commonwealth's deputy secretary general expects that two members of
the Group of Eight industrialized nations -- Canada and Britain -- will
heed the call immediately for help to mitigate and adapt to global warming.
"We believe that their involvement, their participation, their exposure
to the concerns particularly of the non-industrial Commonwealth provides
a basis on which they can help to take the messages of the Commonwealth
into the G8 but there are no guarantees," said Smith, who is leading a
21-member delegation from the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat to
the finance ministers' meeting.
Though the Commonwealth meeting would not officially open until Monday
evening, working sessions would begin earlier in the day with a focus on
"Filling the Infrastructure Gap-- Fiscal Space for Growth and
Development," a forum of the 10 heavily indebted poor countries that
have been benefitting from substantial debt relief.
Finance ministers would also discuss the world economic situation
including IMF and World Bank issues as well as a Poverty Reduction
Strategy Report.
They will also hold a special session titled "Climate Change: The
Challenges Facing Finance Ministers."