(13 Feb 08 – RV) The small island nations around the world have told the United Nations
General Assembly that climate change threatens their very existence. The UN concluded
a two-day climate conference yesterday to shape the organisation’s overall policy
and support its negotiations toward a new global climate treaty in 2012. Delegates
from nearly 190 nations agreed in December to adopt a blueprint to control global
warming gases before the end of next year. Their hope is to replace the Kyoto Protocol,
which requires 37 industrial nations to cut greenhouse gases by 5 percent on average,
when it expires in 2012. Columban Father Sean McDonagh has written several books on
ecology and justice. He says that combating climate change means changing priorities…