British official says Latin America at heart of Copenhagen agreement
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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Monday Latin America was "at the heart" of delivering an agreement at the climate change conference in Copenhagen in December.
At a roundtable event with London-based journalists from Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, Miliband said that a politically binding deal on climate change will only be struck with the agreement of leading South American countries.
He said "you are countries that are growing, countries that embody some of the big issues of low carbon economic development of technology transfer and the big issue that is sometimes forgotten but should never be forgotten -- deforestation that contributes 18 percent of total global emissions."
Miliband said there won't be a deal unless countries like Argentina, Mexico and Brazil are clear that responsibility is being taken by advanced industrialized societies.
In addition, the foreign secretary said they needed to see that the advanced countries such as Britain had clear and binding commitments.
But there also needs to be appropriate weight for all countries to make their contributions. The richest should do the most but everyone should do something -- and that's a good social justice principle, he added.
He said "with 20 days to go, I think it is important that the Latin American voice is heard, but it is also important that there is a dialogue between European countries and Latin American countries."
Miliband said Britain believed that there was still room to strike a climate change deal that was "effective, fair and ambitious."
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