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TOKYO-Japan is preparing to test its leadership role at
the summit meeting of seven western industrial
democracies and Russia (G8) starting today, July 7, and
will run until July 9 in Toyako on the northern island
of Hokkaido.
Japan
considers the summit meeting “historic,” a senior
foreign ministry official said.
For the
first time in the course of G8 meetings and their
predecessors since 1975, the G8 countries (Britain,
France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, Canada and the
United States) will hold discussions with as many as 14
heads of state and government from Africa, Asia-Pacific
and Latin America in three “outreach” groups.
The
official said he hoped the meeting would prove historic
in sending a “strong message” to the international
community in addressing major issues of concern to the
world: development, global food, energy, financial
stability, nuclear nonproliferation and climate change.
The
first round of discussions spread over four hours on the
first day of the summit will include seven African
leaders—three more than at last year’s G8—from Algeria,
Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and
Tanzania—as well as the chairman of the African Union
(AU) Commission.
The
meeting, to be attended also by UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-Moon and World Bank president Robert Zoellick will
focus on African development by achieving the eight
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and
addressing global food security.
Another
workshop—on the last day of the summit—with the leaders
of Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico,
South Korea and South Africa, described as major
economies —will be devoted to environment and climate
change.
These
meetings follow those last year at the Heiligendamm
summit in Germany with the Outreach Five (O5) comprising
the leaders of Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South
Africa.
A
background paper by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (Mofa) says that Prime Minister Yasuo Fakuda
wants the G8 to send “a strong message to the world for
development of a post-2012 framework on climate change
(after the commitment period of Kyoto Protocol) to be
advanced through the UN process.
“Japan
will demonstrate leadership in discussions on climate
change, aiming to attain understanding and agreement of
each country for Japan’s proposals,” the background
paper says.
In line
with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s statement June 1
at the Japan-Germany summit, Japan wishes to advance
further the Heiligendamm agreement of last year.
The G8
agreed last year to “seriously consider cutting global
greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by 2050 from
the current levels.”
The
paper quotes Prime Minister Fakuda as saying: “It is
essential to have a ‘total participation’ framework that
includes all the major economies, not just the EU and
Japan.” He adds: “Japan will negotiate tenaciously in
order to build international agreement on fair and
equitable rules which are approved by all.”
The Mofa
paper says that the Kyoto Protocol, agreed in December
1997, is an “epoch-making first step in reducing
emissions.” But “the total amount of emissions from
ratifiers that are obligated to reduce is still about 30
percent of the world.”
In view
of this, Prime Minister Fakuda is proposing:
· Japan,
along with other major emitters, will establish
quantified national targets for emissions reduction.
· The
target could be based on a bottom-up approach by
compiling energy efficiency on a sectoral basis and
tallying up the reduction volume.
· The
base year should be reviewed.
Concretely, in the post-Kyoto framework, Japan wants to
move away from 1990 as the base for carbon dioxide (CO2)
reductions, agreed in Kyoto.
This is
expected to make Japan’s leadership at the summit an
extremely challenging task. This is admitted by Japanese
officials involved in the G8 Hokkaido summit
preparations.
“We know
it is a make or break issue,” an official told IPS.
Japan’s
long-term goal is to achieve a 60 percent to 80-percent
reduction in emissions from the current level by 2050.
The medium-term goal is a 14-percent reduction by 2020
compared to 2005 levels.
Japan
is, in any case, determined to contribute up to $1.2
billion to a new multilateral fund, which it is
establishing with Britain and the US. The fund will
assist developing countries in addressing climate
change.
Japan is
expected to propose an International Partnership for
Environment and Energy “to share a global road map for
innovative technological development looking 30-40 years
ahead by having the international community work in
unison, to advance technological development.”
The
achievement of this partnership is also to be shared
with developing countries, says the Mofa background
document. |
