Kiribati president pushes Australia on climate plan
Updated
The President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, says the credibility of international systems are under question as Australia's political leaders continue to be undecided about how best to deal with climate change.
Despite months of debate over a possible Carbon Pollution Trading Scheme, neither side seems any closer to securing an agreement.
That's something that's concerning many Pacific Island nations, including Kiribati.
Presenter: Virginia Trioli
Speaker: Anote Tong, President of Kiribati
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TONG: I think our situation has always been very difficult but we were hoping, we were looking forward to some light at the end of the tunnel at Copenhagen. I was optimistic that there might be a positive outcome but there was too much politics and I think eventually the outcome was much, much less than I think many of us anticipated.
TRIOLI: It certainly was and I guess looking at it coldly and geopolitically it means that the Pacific Islands you simply don't have as much clout as say China does when China was instrumental in changing the direction of those talks and that resolution. What do you have to do about that politically in order to get more muscle, to get a voice that's actually listened to?
TONG: Well I think there is more at stake than economic growth. I know China, India and the other developing countries who consider that they would have a lot to lose if there were any limitation on carbon emissions. But I think it's actually more than that, I think our humanity is being challenged, our human values are under question, the credibility of the international systems are under question, and so we have to rise to this challenge and I think it is important that we understand that all of us are being threatened, our human values, let alone the future survival of certain peoples around different parts of the world.
TRIOLI: Well the climate change sceptic Lord Monckton is in the country at the moment on a speaking tour, and as you are probably well aware he argues that far from being a bad thing for the planet he said it'd be beneficial for the planet if more say for example CO2 was pumped into the atmosphere, that would be enriching and beneficial. If he was here with you this morning what would you say to Lord Monckton?
TONG: Well I'd say I'd invite him to come and live with me with his entire family and stay with us for the rest of his generations and then I think perhaps he would look at it from a different perspective. I think all of the debate that I've been listening to, the ongoing debate in Australia at the moment and I think it's all a matter of perspective, but I think at the end of the day we have to look beyond ourselves. We have to acknowledge that if we are, our freedom, human rights, we are as free as long as we don't impinge on the next person, as long as what we do does not hurt the next person. And if we knowingly will continue to do what we're doing knowing very well that it will result in the demise of certain people, I think there are moral issues here I think under consideration and I think we should address those.
TRIOLI: Anote Tong do you have a view on the efficacy of what's being proposed by the opposition, whether Tony Abbott's carbon pollution reduction scheme as he's outlined it, whether that would be a useful way to reduce emissions and help our situation here in Australia but also globally?
TONG: I'm a bit hesitant to comment on the political debate. I'm not putting in my name for election in Australia but what I'm doing is actually campaigning to the Australian citizens, everyone in Australia, in fact every citizen of this planet that what we must do is to do the right thing to ensure that this planet goes on, that we don't allow certain people to go there. Nobody is dispensable that we can sacrifice. I don't think we should ever get involved in that kind of moral debate. And so that is my only comment that I would make. I know that the science is fairly conclusive, our judgement must be guided by the science and the science is saying two degrees centigrade is very marginal, and perhaps we're gaining too far, we're already going too far. And so I think the scientific evidence is there, I think we should take heed of the scientific evidence.
