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 Editorials | Environmental | June 2007 
Mexican President Speaks at G8 on Climate Change
 Presidency of the Republic
| | Anti-G8 protesters in Rostock. A Group of Eight accord on cutting dangerous greenhouse gas emissions has breathed new life into the search for a follow-up accord on global warming spearheaded by the UN. (AFP/DDP/Axel Schmidt) |
After thanking his host for inviting Mexico to participate in the Group of 8 Leaders’ Summit, President Felipe Calderón said in his speech, “We hail the fact that this summit explicitly assumes the fact that the basic scientific debate appears to have ended: climate change is real, measurable and constitutes one of the greatest challenges facing mankind.”
He agreed with the principle established by the United Nations that countries have common but different responsibilities, and applauded the initiatives taken by the European Union in establishing specific goals and objectives for combating climate change.
The president added that Mexico is willing to participate in the joint adoption of long-term global goals, and to help achieve them, in keeping with its capacities and level of development. Cooperation between countries, particularly in the financial and technological spheres, will be a key factor in promoting greater participation by developing countries in reducing climate change. Hence the importance, he said, of assuming and fulfilling the Kyoto Protocol commitments.
Mexico agrees on the importance of seeking an agreement that will go into effect as of 2012. In the meantime, however, he said that it would be advisable to comply with those accords already in force.
Mexico has already designed a strategy to modify its patterns of consumption and the type of energy it generates, as well as a scheme for halting the loss of forest areas through an aggressive program involving the payment of environmental services to the owners of Mexico's forests, particularly indigenous communities.
At the same time, in compliance with the Convention Agreements on Climate Change, Mexico will shortly issue a fourth National Report, with an updated review of its inventories.
Mexico, he explained, is the joint director of the UN’s consultation process of Environmental Governance, and will support its efforts regarding climate change. An example of this is the seriousness with which Mexico regards the United Nations’ initiative to plant a billion trees this year. It has a designed a program to pay for environmental services and reforestation and has pledged to plant 250 million trees in Mexico this year, in other words, a quarter of the UN goal.
It will also carry out an in-depth review of the Group of 8’s decision and make specific suggestions regarding the points contained in the document signed yesterday.
President Calderón ended by inviting those present to visit Mexico on the occasion of the Bicentennial of Mexican Independence, and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution, to be celebrated in 2010. |
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