Action on climate change needed 'here and now'

"Action to combat climate change is not just for future generations, it is for us, here and now," Environment Minister George Pullicino told the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, Canada.

Mr Pullicino noted that as the originator of the United Nations' climate change agenda Malta has a special stake in the far-sighted enterprise.

Malta, together with its partners in the European Union, looks forward to the start of further movement by industrialised countries down the Kyoto track, he said. The island welcomes the prospect of enhancing the effectiveness of the Clean Development Mechanism and its contribution to sustainable development.

The minister said the Kyoto Protocol and its mechanisms alone are not enough to meet the Convention's objective. Thus, Malta shares the widespread hope that the Montreal Conference will launch an open-minded exploration of complementary ways forward - through a robust process engaging all parties in considering options for fair and effective action towards an objective that has already been accepted by all.

He emphasised that since the Kyoto Protocol makes economic sense, countries have been able to persuade economic actors to work within its obligations.

Mr Pullicino added that, consequently, the major sources of growth in the world economy - developed and developing - need to push ahead with the development and deployment of the programmes and technologies that will enable their growth to proceed with reduced climatic impact.

He stressed that strong carbon markets - national, regional and eventually global - can stimulate and help integrate these policy thrusts.