Tuvalu envoy makes tearful appeal; calls for strong agreement

I / Copenhagen December 12, 2009, 17:39 IST

The chief climate change negotiator of the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu today made an emotional appeal for a strong agreement that would legally bind all countries to commitments to control carbon emissions.

Speaking in the main hall of the Bella Centre where the Copenhagen climate change summit is being held, Tuvalu's representative Ian Fry called for two legally binding pacts. "I woke up this morning crying, and that's not easy for a grown man to admit," Fry said, choking as he spoke in the plenary crowded with hundreds of delegates who clapped to show their support. "The fate of my country rests in your hands," he said.

Tuvalu is a small island where people live two meters above sea level and it could be swamped by rising sea levels. Since the beginning of the conference, Fry tabled a proposal that calls for vigorous action on developed countries and emerging economies such as binding cuts and puts 1.5 degree limit in warming.  

The proposal originally filed six months ago called for specific provisions addressing the particular vulnerabilities of the small island states provisions on new technology and finances. In the past two days, President Connie Hedegaard had to suspend the work of the COP as the Tuvalu proposal was being considered in informal meetings.

While the European Union and Australia supported Tuvalu, others like India, China and Saudi Arabia among other oil producing nations have opposed it on the grounds that there should not be any detraction from the Kyoto Protocol, which is the only legally binding treaty that imposes legally binding sanctions on industrialised nations excluding the US.

Shortly after Fry spoke, India's Environment Secretary Vijay Sharma said that parties at this conference should not be sidetracked into discussing amendments and new documents at this stage in the document.

An emotional Fry said that his intention on insisting on his call for a new protocol was not to embarrass the host Danish government or halt the proceedings. He said he only wanted the proposal to be considered carefully because the survival of his country was at stake. This in not an ego trip, he said, stating that he was refusing all media interviews on this topic.

The negotiator said that he believed that the work was being held up by decisions being taken in Washington and called on US President and Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama to truly build peace by efficiently tackling climate change that would take a great human toll.

"There is some irony that the fate of the world is being decided by some senators in the United States," he said, adding millions of people from several countries including Kiribati, Bahamas, Grenada, Bhutan, and Laos would lose their homes.