UN climate-change Summit a failure
Summit a failure: Abhisit
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday dubbed the UN climate-change conference in Denmark a failure, saying it was a lost opportunity for world leaders to reach an agreement on how to reduce global warming.
He admitted, however, that it was difficult for the participating leaders to settle too many differences between them, particularly the disagreement between developed and developing countries.
“It was expected that the government leaders would reach an accord and settle the differences. |A number of leaders were pulled into a meeting but the group was |too small and could not get the acceptance on a wider scale. |Some countries indicated they did not accept the process and some leaders began going home,” Abhisit said.
“Frankly speaking, people who placed their hope on this meeting, particularly the environmentalists, will be disappointed,” he added.
The prime minister, who attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was speaking to Thai media from the Danish capital of Copenhagen through a videoconferencing system known as TelePresence.
Abhisit said he had reaffirmed at the conference Thailand’s readiness to take part in the efforts to reduce global warming.
He said the country would move ahead with its own plan to tackle |climate change despite the Copenhagen summit’s failure, Thai News Agency reported. The premier said that even though the meeting could not agree on concrete measures, Thailand would follow its plan to fight climate change.
Thailand has detailed the measures in its 11th National Economic and Social Development Plan and its Energy Development Plan, he said.
He earlier told the conference that Thailand had incorporated the issue of climate change in its development and planning process, notably in successive National Economic and Social Development Plans for the periods 2007-2011 and 2012-2016 respectively.
