Richest nations should be concerned about environment

The call deserves support from the other Group of Eight nations. “We hope the leaders of each G-8 nation will have firm and open discussions on setting numerical targets for the global environment,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki said. “We hope that some kind of agreement will be reached.”

Japan has already announced an “Abe Initiative” of short- and long-term goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Tokyo is appealing for a new global warming treaty to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, under which 35 industrialized nations agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a combined 5 percent by 2012.

The Group of Eight is an international forum for the governments of the world’s wealthiest countries. Together, these countries represent about 65% of the global economy. Their annual summits, always a focus of international attention, are marked by extensive lobbying by advocacy groups, street demonstrations by activists and sometimes by terrorist attacks.

The summits have prompted much global criticism. One of the most well-known denunciations center on the assertion that members of G8 are responsible for global issues such as global warming due to carbon dioxide emission, the United States, the world’s top emitter of such gases, and Australia, the worst greenhouse-gas polluter per capita, have refused to support the Kyoto agreement, alleging it would hurt their economies. Experts say greenhouse gases, flowing into the atmosphere and oceans at an unprecedented rate, are leading to large extreme climatic events, rising sea levels and other marked ecological changes.

Unless the world, and especially the industrialized world, steps up efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mankind will soon face an environmental disaster. The G-8 nations must no longer evade the issue of environmental protection at their summits.

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