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Ottawa (AFP) June 14, 2010 Excluding climate change from the upcoming G8 and G20 summits would be a snub to poorer nations, environmentalists said on Monday, urging under pressure host Canada to add it to the agenda. Canada has invited Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa, as well as Colombia, Jamaica and Haiti to a special summit session. "If we invite those people and we don't talk about climate change, it pretty much amounts to a slap in the face because they are bearing the brunt of the impact of climate change," charged Steven Guilbeault of Montreal-based green group Equiterre. "They (the least developed nations) are suffering the most," Guilbeault told a press conference. "For Canada to invite those people and not talk about climate change, not put it on the agenda, and make sure there are some very strong commitments, would be highly hypocritical," he said. "And frankly, if I were from (any of these) countries, I would be outraged." Guilbeault said the summits were important international forums and therefore it was important to press G8 and G20 leaders on their past commitments to curb carbon dioxide emissions linked to global warming. The Group of Eight industrialized nations has taken decisive actions on the environment in the past. Canada's then prime minister Jean Chretien announced his decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol at the 2001 summit in Genoa, Italy Guilbeault lamented that a meeting of environment ministers had not been scheduled at the upcoming G8 summit. A global consensus at the last UN climate talks called for temperature rises to be restricted to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) or less, but the latest projections forecast increases of between 3.8 and 4 degrees C. Mark Fried of Oxfam Canada said the world cannot achieve substantial emissions cuts without action by poor countries, which desperately need financial help from richer nations to curb their CO2 emissions. The European Union, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Mexico have also pressured Canada to include climate change issues in discussions at the July 25-27 G8 and G20 economic summits in Huntsville, Ontario, and Toronto. "We are actively consulting our guests to prepare the agenda," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told parliament last week. "Obviously, a lot of subjects will be discussed, including some issues surrounding climate change. At the same time, the G20 isn't expected to replace the United Nations negotiating process."
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