The island of New Guinea is home to the third largest expanse of rainforest on the planet and has long been celebrated as one of the “lungs of the Earth” (Chris McCALL) (Chris McCALL/AFP/AFP)
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister vows to return to UN climate talks
Laura CHUNG
Papua New Guinea's prime minister vowed Tuesday to return to UN climate summits after boycotting this year's negotiations but called for forest protection to be a higher priority.
The jungle-covered Pacific nation did not participate in November's climate talks in Azerbaijan, and its foreign minister described them as a “waste of time” that resulted in nothing.
Prime Minister James Marape told AFP that his country intends to return to the discussion at the COP30 summit next year in Brazil, home to the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest.
“Next year, we will be in Brazil,” he said in an interview, promising to pressure countries with a large carbon footprint to pay for forest conservation.
The Pacific leader said climate change talks would be “totally in vain” if they didn't focus on forest conservation and resource management.
“It is forestry that cleans the atmosphere of carbon and carbon footprints,” said Marape.
“Forestry is close to our heart.”
Marape said Papua New Guinea will support an Australian bid to co-host COP31 in 2026 with Pacific nations if conservation and forest management feature prominently in the discussions.
- 'Lungs of the Earth' - The island of New Guinea is home to the Pacific rainforest.
The island of New Guinea is home to the third largest expanse of rainforest on the planet, according to conservation group WWF, and has long been celebrated as one of the “lungs of the Earth.”
In November, Papua New Guinea boycotted the UN climate summit in Azerbaijan because the hosts didn't “respect forest company owners very much,” said Marape.
Impoverished, flanked by the ocean, and already prone to natural disasters, the country is considered highly vulnerable to the dangers of climate change.
It is one of five Pacific nations involved in a crucial International Court of Justice case that will soon test whether polluters can be sued for neglecting their climate obligations.
But while Pacific nations are among the most climate-threatened areas on the planet, Australia remains one of the world's leading exporters of coal and gas.
The decision on Australia's bid to host COP31 has been delayed because Turkey is refusing to abandon its rival campaign, dragging out the selection process until 2025.
The COP, or conference of the parties, is the main United Nations conference on climate change, an annual summit at which nations seek to determine legally binding climate commitments.
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