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Gore urges US, China to join efforts to save feverish planet6 hours ago
OSLO (AFP) — Former US vice president Al Gore said humanity was "waging war" on the Earth and urged the United States and China to join the fight against global warming as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize here Monday.
"Both countries should stop using the other's behaviour as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment," Gore said at a lavish ceremony in the Oslo city hall.
Gore, 59, was jointly awarded the prestigious peace prize with the UN's top climate panel.
"It should be absolutely clear that it is the two largest CO2 (carbon dioxide) emitters, and most of all my own country, that will need to make the boldest moves," he said.
The United States is the only rich nation not party to the Kyoto Protocol, while China has said it will not back binding emissions curbs that could affect its booming economy.
"The Earth has a fever. And the fever is rising," lamented the creator of the Oscar-winning documentary "An Unconvenient Truth" on the disastrous effects of climate change.
"We have begun waging war on the Earth itself," he said, standing underneath brightly-coloured frescoes in a city hall decked in orange flowers.
"It is time to make peace with the planet."
Gore, wearing a dark blue suit and pale blue tie, voiced optimism on the prospects of the ongoing Bali summit. Delegates from nearly 190 nations are hammering out the groundwork for a new global warming treaty beyond 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol's first phase expires.
By coincidence, Monday's ceremony, which was being broadcast live at the Bali conference, took place on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the landmark pact for curbing greenhouse gases.
Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- a United Nations body of about 3,000 experts -- received a Nobel diploma, a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (1.5 million dollars, 1.1 million euros) to be split between them for their work to raise awareness about the effects of global warming.
Most of Norway's royal family was present, and a long line of Norwegian and foreign dignitaries, politicians and entertainment stars, including US actress Uma Thurman, could be seen in the packed city hall.
The Nobel committee's decision to award the peace prize to climate campaigners continued the trend of broadening its scope beyond the traditional fields of conflict prevention and resolution and disarmament.
Over the years, winners have been honoured for humanitarian aid work and human rights. Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai won in 2002, and Bangladeshi microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank won last year.
"Unfortunately we can already establish that global warming not only has negative consequences for 'human society', but can also fuel violence and conflict within and between states," the head of the five-member Nobel committee Ole Mjoes said.
IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri, who accepted the prize on behalf of his organisation, also stressed the link between fighting climate change and peace.
Global warming could prompt "dramatic population migration, conflict and war over water and other resources as well as a realignment of power among nations," he cautioned.
Climate change will among other things likely cause acute water shortages in many areas, said Pachauri, who was dressed in a black jacket with a bright green handkerchief.
Within the next 12 years, he said, as many as 250 million people in Africa could face "increased water stress due to climate change."
But halting the process was still possible, he added.
"The impacts of climate change can be limited by suitable adaptation measures and stringent mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions."
Gore meanwhile said he planned to present a number of proposals when he travelled to Bali later this week to join the ongoing climate change conference there. They included imposing taxes on CO2 and urging world leaders to meet as often as every three months to work out a global emissions cap treaty by 2010.
Scientists' warnings more than 20 years ago had helped raise awareness about the possibilities of a "nuclear winter", he said. Today, we "are in danger of creating a permanent 'carbon summer'," he added.
But he ended his speech on a positive note. "We have everything we need to get started, save perhaps political will, but political will is a renewable resource."
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