Commonwealth Heads agree to establish fund to counter effects of global warming
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Contact: Shannon Lebourne
Monday, November 30, 2009 – Commonwealth Heads of Government have agreed on a new climate change deal, even as major world leaders continue to discuss a possible new deal at the much anticipated summit in Copenhagen Denmark in December.
The Commonwealth Heads have agreed to a Copenhagen Launch Fund for developing countries, which would start in 2010 and build to $10 billion a year by 2012.
The agreement was forged at the just concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago on the weekend.
The funds will be used to assist developing countries in countering the effects of global warming.
However, no method for collecting and disbursing the funds was agreed upon at the biennial meeting, but the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon says steps will be taken to ensure that pledges are honoured.
Meantime, just days before the Copenhagen Summit gets under way, the leaders from the fifty-three Commonwealth member grouping have said that an internationally legally binding agreement on climate change is essential.
They also pledged their continued support to the leader-driven process guided by the Danish prime minister, and his efforts to deliver a comprehensive, substantial and operationally binding agreement in Copenhagen.
Saint Lucia's Prime Minister, Honourable Stephenson King, who is also CARICOM's Lead Spokesman on Sustainable Development, represented the island at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago last weekend.
Mr. King is also scheduled to participate in the Copenhagen Summit in December. |
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