BBC Environmental Science — People in developing countries will need to make big cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if “dangerous” climate change is to be avoided, a report warns. Researchers at the Third World Network calculate that even if rich nations make deep cuts, the developing world will face per-capita reductions of 60%. It suggests this would pose challenges to these countries’ development.
Meanwhile, another report warns that current proposals for cutting developed world emissions do not go far enough. …
Ewah Eleri, executive director of the International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development based in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, said there were some obvious easy ways for the poorest developing countries to reduce emissions. One would be to replace traditional open wood-burning stoves with more efficient models.
“Being able to introduce efficient wood stoves is not rocket science,” he told BBC News. “But it holds a lot of promise in terms of reducing the health hazard to men, women and children who work in the kitchen.”
Making the switch across Nigeria could probably reduce the country’s emissions by 20-30%. …
The clear message from putting these two reports together was, he said, that richer nations will have to get finance and clean technology into the developing world if they want to turn the goal of a 50% cut into reality. (12-10-08)
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