Island states stake bold claim at UN climate talks - Yahoo! News

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Island nations threatened by rising seas demanded at UN talks Friday that the world commit to preventing global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).

In an 18-page draft accord obtained by AFP, the 43-member Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) also called for an ambitious 85-percent cut in global CO2 emissions by 2050.

"AOSIS members are at the front line of the devastating impacts of climate change," Dessima Williams of Grenada, AOSIS' spokeswoman, said on Friday.

Both goals are well beyond the objectives embraced coming into the December 7-18 crunch summit by rich nations and emerging giants such as China, India and Brazil.

These countries have said that an objective of keeping temperatures from rising more than 2.0 C (3.6 F) compared to pre-industrial times is sufficient to stave off the worst impacts of global warming.

But new scientific findings since the 2007 UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) report that served as a basis for the 2.0 C target show that climate change is accelerating faster and is having more dire impacts than previously thought.

Partly as a result, a growing number of the world's most vulnerable countries have signed on to the AOSIS objectives, which were first aired at the UN climate talks in Poznan in December 2008.

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