The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : A unique spectacle will unfold at G8 Summit

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A unique spectacle will unfold at G8 Summit

Special Correspondent

Dignitaries will be invited to see the glory of Japanese sky

CHENNAI: The first day of the G8 summit in Hokkaido Toyako, Japan, on July 7 will present a unique spectacle.

All lights will go off at 8 p.m. and some of the earth’s most powerful men and women will be invited to see the glory of the Japanese sky, Consul-General of Japan in Chennai Kazuo Minagawa said here on Thursday.

Japan has been a strong advocate of measures to tackle climate change, Mr. Minagawa said, and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is committed to implementing these measures. Following on the Kyoto Protocol that came into effect in 2005, Japan has pushed for more steps to cut down on harmful emissions.

Speaking at a special meeting on global warming, organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IJCCI), Mr. Minagawa said Japan was set to cut back on its carbon emissions by 60-80 per cent by 2015, by innovating on efficient technology.

M.S. Ananth, Director, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, presented facts reported by various scientists on climate change, showing that fossil-fuel emissions were the most important cause of global warming in the past few decades. But it was difficult for scientists to implement policy changes without the political will, he pointed out.

Presiding, the former UN Policy Advisor, B. S. Raghavan, said communication from the scientists to policymakers and the public was difficult, as the effects were minuscule in the near term. It was important to make the facts comprehensible for the average citizen and for politicians to deal with it effectively.

R. Veeramani, president, IJCCI, said it was important for children to learn about such global problems in school. Preliminary findings by a Japanese scientist had shown that plants native to India like t ulasi and vilva had high chlorophyll content and could replenish the oxygen content in the atmosphere easily. He invited academics to pursue active research to hit upon the best method of tackling the problem.

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