President Jacob Zuma, who is attending the CHOGM [Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting] summit, is of the strong view that multilateral forums such as this Commonwealth gathering, should be used to champion the cause of poor and vulnerable countries adversely affected by climate change.
“The impact of climate change is more severe to smaller countries… this is a life and death issue and we would want to push that serious decisions be taken in Copenhagen, so that we are able to address issues that affect human beings who inhabit these small countries,” said President Zuma.
There is not much hope that the much-anticipated CHOGM will manage to conclude a deal that could force rich industrialised nations to commit to strict timelines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Later on Saturday the CHOGM summit gets underway in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.
There are already signs that the meeting will not yield any positive outcomes.
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, has confirmed that the summit will not take any binding decisions.
Source: www.sabcnews.co.za, 20091127
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