Qadri wants to create conducive climate for terrorists: Pervaiz Rasheed

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Pervaiz Rasheed Saturday said that Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Dr Tahirul Qadri wanted to create conducive atmosphere for the terrorists.

Talking to media representatives here, Pervaiz Rasheed said Dr Tahirul Qadri is well aware of the fact that Pakistan is playing a significant role in the war against terrorism and that Pak Army is currently engaged in operation ‘Zarb-e-Azb’ in North Waziristan.

He said Tahirul Qadri intended to divide the nation through indulging in politics of agitation and that Qadri was part of the most rigged elections of the country’s history and a referendum.

“Dr Tahirul Qadri is trying to incite chaos in the country. He is hatching a conspiracy against operation ‘Zarb-e-Azb’, Constitution and the democracy,” he added.

Calls for action as world faces fork in climate road

PARIS: A stark warning by UN scientists of menacing climate change prompted demands Monday for urgent action to curb greenhouse-gas emissions even as a global pact remained elusive.

Scientists, politicians, envoys and green groups united in calls for faster, more drastic action to avoid the worst-case scenarios of conflict, drought and massive displacement highlighted in the expert report.

"The path of tomorrow is undoubtedly determined by our choices today," United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres said after the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned of a "severe, pervasive and irreversible impact" if nothing is done.

"This report requires and requests that everyone accelerate and scale up efforts towards a low-carbon world and manage the risks of climate change in order to spare the planet and its people," she said.

Activist groups said governments now have all the proof they need that inaction will lead to disaster, as well as the scientific basis on which to plan an appropriate response.

Many voiced hope that the dire warning would give impetus to negotiations for a new, global pact on curbing carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels.

"The gap between the science and what governments are doing remains huge," said Sandeep Chamling Rai of green group WWF.

"Now it is up to people to hold their governments to account, to get them to act purposefully and immediately."

The Alliance of Small Island States said the new alert came as no surprise for nations already grappling with sea-level rise, droughts and record-breaking storms.

"We hope that it helps convince the international community, particularly those most responsible for climate change, to address the crisis with greater urgency and not at some abstract date in the future but immediately."

After a nearly 22-year effort under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), negotiators are seeking to sign a new, global pact in Paris next year, to take effect in 2020.

The aim is to contain warming to 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels, though even this level would require adaptive measures for a changed climate.

Countries remain deeply divided on what the deal will look like, what it must contain, how binding its provisions should be and how they will be enforced.

- No denial, says US -

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the political system must "wake up" to the threat.

"Denial of the science is malpractice," he said in a statement. "There are those who say we can't afford to act. But waiting is truly unaffordable. The costs of inaction are catastrophic."

The IPCC warned that untamed greenhouse gas emissions may cost trillions of dollars in damage to property and ecosystems, and in bills for shoring up climate defences.

For Bjorn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre think-tank, "the best solution is to dramatically ramp up funding for research and development of effective green technology."

Today's renewable technology, such as solar and wind energy, required subsidies of at least $100 billion (73 billion euros) per year to become viable.

"Innovation can help us developing technologies to provide green energy more cheaply than fossil fuels, and then everyone will adopt them," said Lomborg.

In the run-up to the conclusion of this year's global climate negotiations in Lima, Peru, in December, UN chief Ban Ki-moon will host heads of state and government in New York on September 23 "to mobilise action and ambition on climate change".

European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the world should oppose "hitting the snooze button" on the issue.

"Europe is preparing an ambitious reduction target for 2030 to be adopted later this year. I appeal to all major emitters to do the same thing," she said in a statement.

Tom Mitchell, a climate expert at Britain's Overseas Development Institute (ODI), cautioned against hopes the Paris meeting will be the definitive solution.

"The real challenge is in what happens after 2015," he said in a phone interview with AFP in Tokyo.

"If countries say they are going to reduce emissions, what is the architecture for holding countries to account, and ensuring that they are contributing their fair share in the first place?"

US envoys to make climate change priority: Kerry

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on American ambassadors around the world to make the fight against climate change a top priority ahead of new UN talks next year.

In his first department-wide policy guidance statement since taking office a year ago, he told his 70,000 staff: "The environment has been one of the central causes of my life."

"Protecting our environment and meeting the challenge of global climate change is a critical mission for me as our country's top diplomat," Kerry said in the letter issued on Friday to all 275 US embassies and across the State Department.

"It's also a critical mission for all of you: our brave men and women on the frontlines of direct diplomacy," he added in the document seen by AFP.

He urged all "chiefs of mission to make climate change a priority for all relevant personnel and to promote concerted action at posts and in host countries to address this problem."

The clarion call comes ahead of key UN-led talks in Paris next year when the international community is due to try to set new emissions goals for greenhouses blamed for global warming.

The emission levels will be applicable to all countries, not just the developed world, and will come into effect in 2020.

The new agreement will replace the Kyoto treaty which is due to expire in 2015.

The United States, which along with China is the world's top polluter, did not ratify the Kyoto Treaty arguing that developing countries should also be obligated to cut greenhouse gases.

Kerry travelled to China last month and won agreement from Beijing that the US and China would cooperate closely ahead of the Paris talks as they aim to agree emissions targets.

In his policy guidance, Kerry set out a seven step program to enhance the focus on tackling climate change including boosting multilateral and bilateral efforts.

"We're talking about the future of our earth and of humanity. We need to elevate the environment in everything we do," he said. It was, he said "our call to conscience as citizens of this fragile planet we inhabit."

Kerry is currently weighing a decision on whether the US should approve the building of a pipeline carrying oil from the tar sands of Alberta, in Canada, to US refineries in Nebraska and then Texas.

An environmental review found that the Keystone XL project would not add significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

But opponents are calling on Kerry to reject the proposals by Canadian operators TransCanada, and a small but noisy protest was held late Thursday outside the State Department.