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CLIMATE SCIENCE
Euro, climate crises prompt rethink of growth: Stern
by Staff Writers
Durban, South Africa (AFP) Dec 9, 2011


Nicholas Stern, author of a landmark report on climate change, said Friday the crisis of the euro and the fight against greenhouse gases required a rethink of the concept of growth.

In an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the UN climate talks, Stern said reviving Europe's economy in light of its financial crisis and fixing its carbon problem were interlocked questions.

The time was ripe for steering Europe towards growth that was healthy and sustainable, Stern said.

"We have to work on both (the economic and climate problems) at the same time. It's just intellectual infirmity to be able to only think at one thing at a time, particularly when the things are linked through this growth story," he said.

"We are not going to solve our problems in Europe without growth. We have to tackle the immediate problem of the stability of the euro, we have to do it.

"But that will only be the first step if we are sensible enough to take it. We have to get growth going in Europe. And I think low carbon investment and innovation is the best possible source of growth in Europe."

In 2006, Stern, a British former chief economist at the World Bank, authored one of the most influential reports in the history of climate change.

Focusing especially on the economic damage inflicted by drought, floods, desertification, rising seas and storms, it said climate change could cost the world at least five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) each year.

But reducing emissions could be limited to around one percent of global GDP, it said.

Stern warned against "going back into the environmental and climate dangerous pattern that we followed in the past."

Other voices have also appealed to leaders to seize the crisis of the euro with the chance of remodelling Europe's economy.

Former Greek premier George Papandreou, speaking to AFP, said he welcomed efforts by the European Union's summit in Brussels to beef up budgetary surveillance over eurozone governments.

"But monitoring, fiscal discipline alone will not solve our problem in Europe, we need a growth strategy also," said Papandreou, attending the Durban talks to promote low-carbon investment.

"This growth strategy is not to throw money at the problem but to invest in areas that would make Europe competitive, which will create jobs, which will create growth."

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Head of Greenpeace expelled from UN climate talks
Durban, South Africa (AFP) Dec 9, 2011 - The head of Greenpeace, Kumi Naidoo, was expelled from UN climate negotiations on Friday with around two dozen protestors who clamoured for a breakthrough as the troubled talks went into overtime.

The South African activist and anti-apartheid campaigner was escorted away after he led an occupation of the hallway outside the plenary room at the International Convention Centre, which has been declared UN territory for the talks.

Naidoo, speaking to journalists before he was peacefully removed, said the talks were heading towards a "completely unacceptable" outcome.

"What we see here are baby steps. Baby steps is not what the situation calls for -- it calls for fundamental change."

He referred to a scientific report this week showing that, without a sharp cut in greenhouse-gas emissions, the planet is on track to warm by 3.5 degrees Celsius (6.3 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, a recipe for worsening heatwaves, drought and floods.

"What is at stake here is not some nebulous thing called the planet. It is our childrens' and grandchildrens' future. That is what we are talking about," he said.

Blue-shirted UN security guards led all the protestors away in groups of two or three through a side door except a young man and a woman, both with NGO badges, who refused to move.

After 15 minutes of negotations they were physically removed, the man carried arms and feet by two policeman, and the woman lifted into a wheelchair, an AFP journalist saw.

A security officer directing the policeman said that the protestors were not being arrested.

The protest had started several hours earlier when the Maldives' environment minister, Mohamed Aslam, flanked by Naidoo, joined about a hundred green activists credentialed to attend the talks.

"This is a planetary emergency!", "The world needs action now!", "People power, not corporate power!", "Don't kill Africa!" the activists chanted.



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CLIMATE SCIENCE
Pressure on major emitters as climate talks go to the wire
Durban, South Africa (AFP) Dec 9, 2011
A growing coalition of countries demanding a new pact on greenhouse gases heaped pressure on China, the United States and India to follow suit on the final day of the UN climate talks Friday. With only hours left before the scheduled end of the 12-day marathon and scant signs of any progress, Europe said it had assembled an alliance gathering the vast majority of the world's nations. The ... read more


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