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Wealthy nations conclude mega-summit, stress need for 'global solutions'
Wed, Jul 9 06:13 PM
RUSUTSU, Japan (AP) _ Leaders of the world's wealthy nations ended a mega-summit Wednesday united in condemning Zimbabwe's recent elections, vowing to fight a food crisis and supporting a plan to slash by half the global emission of greenhouse gases by the middle of the century. But the expanded meeting of the Group of Eight also showcased a widening rift with developing nations and prompted some of the G-8's own leaders to acknowledge that many of world's most pressing issues are simply too much for them to handle alone.
"We face global problems that need global solutions," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in his closing statement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was more direct: "The G-8 is no longer enough to solve many of the problems.
" Host Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's prime minister, said the confluence of potential global crises made the summit particularly important and difficult. "We had many heated discussions," he said.
"This year's summit was the most important in recent years." To bring in as many players as possible, the summit, held under heavy security at a secluded mountaintop resort on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, was actually a three-in-one affair.
Along with the wealthy nations, leaders of the Group of Five leading developing countries, who together represent 42 percent of the world's population, and seven African heads of state were invited for outreach sessions. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also came, along with the chiefs of the World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, International Energy Agency, African Union and European Commission.
Climate change was by far the biggest topic during the three-day meetings. For the first time the G-8 whose members are the United States, Japan, Russia, Canada, Italy, Germany, France and Britain committed as a group to the long-term goal of halving emissions by 2050 worldwide.
They failed, however, to impress the leaders of the major developing nations, who are calling for the G-8 to make the most ambitious cuts because they are historically the world's biggest polluters and are economically the most capable of adapting to the changes required. In the meeting of the G-8 and the leaders of China, India, Brazil and 13 other countries held on the closing day, only three supported the declaration on climate change that the G-8 had made the day before.
Even so, U.S. President George W. Bush, who was making his final G-8 summit appearance, tried to portray the meeting as a glowing success. Bush said the world's richest countries had moved to improve to the daily life of millions of people and cited new agreements on fighting disease, protecting the environment and promoting development.
"We served both our interests as Americans, and we've served the interests of the world," he said. But Chinese President Hu Jintao refusing to endorse G-8's climate change stance insisted that his country's per capita emissions are still relatively low and said economic growth in the developing world should not be sacrificed.
"Climate change is, in essence, an issue about development," he said. "China's central task now is to develop the economy and make life better for the people.
" Big rifts within the G-8 were also apparent. The group did not specify a baseline year for the emissions cuts, making it unclear exactly what they were committing to.
Some European leaders want to cut emissions compared to 1990, the year used in the Kyoto Protocol, which the U.S. has refused to sign, while Japan's Fukuda said he sees the base as current levels. The leaders left the question open for ongoing negotiations under the auspices of the U.N. that face a deadline of December 2009, when 190 nations are to meet in Copenhagen, Denmark.
On Zimbabwe, the leaders issued a strong statement condemning President Robert Mugabe, whose followers are accused of leading a campaign of murder against opposition supporters, leading to a one-candidate race that Mugabe easily won last month. The G-8 promised to take measures against those responsible for the violence that prompted the opposition candidate to pull out of the race.
Britain's Brown said there can be no hiding place for Mugabe's supporters, who he said "have blood on their hands." Bush called the elections a "sham" and Fukuda said sanctions are "very possible.
" But, on this issue, Russia held the group back. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev backed the strong G-8 statement on Zimbabwe, but stressed there are "no concrete decisions" about how the U.N. should respond and whether further action will be taken.
For its lack of specifics, the summit generally received low marks from environmental groups and from anti-poverty organizations, who believe more should have been done to assure spiraling prices do not create a food crisis and want the G-8 to get much-needed aid to Africa. "Never was more urgent action needed by the G-8 than this week," said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of the advocacy group Oxfam.
"The G-8 failed to rise to the challenge of a world in crisis.".
