Legal enforcement needed to fight climate change
 
Vientiane Times, December 23, 2009
 
Lao Deputy Prime Minister Asang Laoly told the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen last week that the world has no option but to approve legally enforced measures if it wants to address climate change effectively.
 
In his remarks delivered on December 17 at the summit in Denmark , which ran from December 7-18, Mr Asang said the measures must be based on the principles of existing documents, including the Kyoto Protocol.
 
“We have no other choice besides approving measures which will be legally enforced to deal with climate issues,” said Mr Asang, who is also Chairman of the Lao National Environment Committee.
 
The summit was attended by representatives of more than 190 countries, including 119 presidents and prime ministers.
 
Mr Asang urged developed nations to fulfill their commitments in providing financial assistance to those who are developing, particularly the least developed countries, to lessen the impact of climate change on poorer populations.
 
He also called for developed countries to transfer technological knowledge on green energy and how to reduce the CO2 output of energy production to the developing and least developed countries.
 
In Laos , the government has actively contributed to efforts by the international community to deal with climate change.
 
The deputy Prime Minister said the Lao government had prioritised frameworks to mitigate climate change impacts in line with the Bali Action Plan, particularly green energy development, placing emphasis on developing hydro and alternative energy aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
 
Mr Asang said Laos also supported efforts by the international community to reverse deforestation, and has set a target of increasing forestry coverage to 70 percent of the country's land area by 2020.
 
In this regard the deputy proposed that the international community draw up international-level documents to manage forests to make countries aware of the value and role played by forests in reducing the effects of greenhouse gas emissions.
 
“Renovation and protection of forests in a sustainable way might be a challenging task and require huge spending, but this shouldn't be a reason to lessen our attention to it,” he said.
 
“Instead, we must pay more attention to forestry development in the fight against global warming, which is a threat to human beings.”
 
In recent years, like many other countries Laos has suffered from natural disasters resulting from global warming caused by human activities.
 
Scientific predications forecast that such disasters will increase in frequency and cause more serious damage in the future, so it is up to all sectors, governments and the international community to cooperate and deal with these issues, said Mr Asang.