Asia slams Bush on global warming

Scientists say gas emissions lead to global warming, which has the potential to trigger floods and droughts and increase death rates

In this story: Asian giants left out South Pacific Islands lead the charge Aussie rules U.N. moves RELATED STORIES

By Marianne Bray
CNN writer

HONG KONG, China -- Asian and European green groups and governments have slammed U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to abandon a treaty to fight global warming.

Bush's confirmation he would bow out of the Kyoto Protocol, which commits 37 industrialized nations to cut gas emissions, was the most "serious environmental policy crisis in years," they said Thursday.

ALSO Global warming: Bush turns his back on Kyoto

European officials warned U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday that broader relations with the rest of the world could suffer if he sticks by the decision to pull out.

"This isn't some marginal environmental issue that can be ignored or played down," EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstroem said at a news conference. "It has to do with trade and economics."

VIDEO CNN's Rebecca Mackinnon has Japan's reaction to Bush's decision Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Calling Bush's announcement "exceptionally serious," British Environment Minister Michael Meacher also said it could have repercussions in other areas.

"We are talking about a trans-Atlantic and global foreign policy issue," he said in London.

While stressing it was too soon to discuss "tactics to punish the United States," Wallstroem said she will go to Washington next week with an EU delegation to seek clarification of the Bush administration's position.

"I don't think this is the time to start to threaten, but we must be clear about the political implications," she said.

Others already began suggesting counter-measures, ranging from an e-mail blitz of the White House to pickets outside Exxon, Texaco or Chevron gas stations.

According to Bush, the protocol could damage the coal-dependent U.S. economy but scientists say climate change could trigger severe floods and droughts, bolster sea levels and increase cases of malaria and respiratory diseases.

The agreement was signed by the Clinton administration, European Union member states and Japan in Kyoto in 1997, but it has not been ratified.

Under the treaty, major powers agreed to cut gas emissions, mainly from burning coal and oil, by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

The United States alone produces a quarter of the globe's carbon dioxide.

Asian giants left out

An average American emits 16 times more carbon dioxide per year than an average Indian

While Asian giants China and India are not part of the treaty, Bush has used developing countries such as these as a reason for withdrawing from the global community's effort to deal with a major threat to the climate.

The Senate has echoed Bush's calls, saying it could not support any global warming pact that did not bind developing countries along with developed countries

"Bush wrote recently that rich countries should not be involved in the protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world," said Andrew Kerr, spokesperson for the World Wildlife Fund Climate Change campaign.

Kerr criticized Bush for turning back on his election pledge, saying the United Sates had ratified a 1992 U.N. climate convention that said developed countries should take a lead in combating climate change.

The U.S., which is dependent on coal for power, is a major contributor to the world's gases, much more so than its Asian counterparts, he added.

"The United States is responsible for almost half of the increase in world carbon dioxide in the past decade," said Kerr. "That increase is greater than the increase in China, India, Africa and the whole of Latin America. In the last two years the U.S. has overtaken China to become the world's number one coal burner."

The average American emits 20 times more carbon dioxide per year than Filipinos, 16 times more emissions than Indians and eight times more emissions than Chinese, Kerr said.

But Bush argues that emissions from China and India could soon equal those of the United States.

South Pacific Islands lead the charge

Global warming may leave coastlines of low-lying nations submerged

Low-lying South Pacific Islands most at risk of global warming led the Asian charge after the White House said Bush does not support the treaty and is calling for a review of the policy.

"As human beings we can't afford to be wiped off the earth by an environmental disaster which can be avoided by reducing emissions," said Fakavae Taomia, deputy high commissioner for Tuvalu in Fiji.

Tuvalu's 10,000 residents are watching closely as rising sea levels erode their land. The government was so concerned about the problem, they had planned to buy 14,000 acres of land in Fiji to relocate their residents until a coup last year thwarted their plans.

In ten years time, most of the low-lying atolls surrounding Tuvalu's nine islands in the South Pacific Ocean will be submerged under water as global warming rises sea levels, Taomia added.

Further north, the tiny nation of Kiribati said it is already experiencing coastal erosion, droughts and severe storms as sea levels rise.

"It is a terrible economic problem, it is our very survival," said Baranika Etuati, acting director of the Department of Environment and Conservation in Kiribati.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Angie Heffernan, based in the Fijian capital Suva, said Bush's decision was driven by oil, coal and gas interests.

Aussie rules

Further south, Australians joined the Japanese in expressing serious concern at the U.S. decision to abandon the treaty.

Scientists joined Australian Environment Minister Robert Hill in saying the collapse of the Kyoto protocol would be a major step backwards.

"The science is clear. If you want to reduce the risk of climate change you need to reduce greenhouse gases," said Dr Chris Mitchell, a senior CSIRO scientist specializing in the greenhouse effect in Australia.

"A commitment to reduce by 5 percent is better than nothing."

Japan said on Thursday it will redouble its efforts to persuade the United States to rethink its plan.

"In terms of the effectiveness of the Kyoto protocol, the U.S. participation is crucial," Yasuko Ishii of the environment ministry said.

U.N. moves

In Europe, Bush's statements have thrown a wrench into upcoming talks aimed at finding a solution as to how the protocol would be implemented.

U. N. talks on implementing the Kyoto agreement and cutting greenhouse gas emissions resume on July 16 in Germany.

While no European country has ratified the treaty, EU nations have said it is a way forward.

The EU said last week the global warming issue was an integral part of U.S.-EU relations.

Meanwhile, a cabinet-level review of global warming issues has been ordered to develop a U.S. response to the issue, a White House spokesman said.

U.S. officials said Washington would work with other countries on alternatives to the pact and that it was not considering formally "unsigning" the treaty.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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