Colombia will request resources to protect its vegetation and will ask industrialized nations to finance programs to help the Andean nation adapt to the effects of global warming at a conference on climate change in Copenhagen next Monday.
The Copenhagen Summit will seek to renew commitments made in the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012. At the conference Colombia will request the creation of a fund of almost US$140 billion in resources to be used to mitigate and adapt to climate change, El Espectador reported.
While Latin American is not the greatest contributor to global warming, its nations are among the most affected by it, and are vulnerable to rises in temperature. The United Nations revealed that of all countries in Latin America, Colombia suffers the most from natural disasters due to global climate change.
Colombia is seeking to be recognized as a nation with high vulnerability to climate change, the Colombian Minister for the Environment Manuel Rodriguez said. Rising sea levels threaten to flood its Pacific coast and could destroy 15% of San Andres Island.
At the summit Colombia will also push for industrialized nations to commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
Colombia will voluntarily implement a plan to reduce its own emissions. The country only produces 0.37% of global emissions but will seek to lower them as a demonstration of its commitment to combating climate change, according to El Espectador.
Colombia’s strategy to lower emissions focuses on greater use of public transport, the generation of at least 75% of its energy through hydroelectricity, and investment in developing alternative energy sources.
Colombian delegates in Copenhagen will also seek an agreement on forest protection. The premise of the agreement is that developing countries that reduce deforestation will receive economic compensation.
