MALE, Nov 9: The president of the Maldives warned on Monday that the world was set to sign a “global suicide pact” unless it agreed a deal in Copenhagen next month to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

“At the moment every country arrives at climate negotiations seeking to keep their own emissions as high as possible,” President Mohamed Nasheed said here.

“This is the logic of the madhouse, a recipe for collective suicide. We don’t want a global suicide pact. We want a global survival pact.”

More than 190 nations are to meet for UN talks in Copenhagen from December 7 to 18, aiming for a post-2012 accord to slash emissions from fossil fuels.

But after nearly two years of haggling, deep rifts remain over apportioning emissions curbs between rich economies and fast-growing developing nations and on the accord’s architecture and legal status.

Nasheed opened a two-day forum for 11 countries considered the most vulnerable to climate change, urging them to go carbon neutral to show the rich world the way forward.

“A group of vulnerable, developing countries committed to carbon neutral development would send a loud message to the outside world,” Nasheed said.—AFP
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