Last update - 00:00 21/11/2007
Israel cancels UN climate change summit envoy due to high security cost
By Tzafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel will not send a delegation to the United Nations conference on global warming set for next month in Indonesia as security costs for the journey would be too high, Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra announced Wednesday.
The international community considers global warming one of the world's most pressing issues. Despite the fact that Israel is not among the nations the UN has ordered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Israeli environmental organizations and Environment Ministry experts agreed attendance at the Indonesia summit was of vital importance.
The Indonesia summit is the annual meeting of nations who have ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The protool, which comprises an undertaking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by each nation that ratifies it, has been signed by 137 countries.
This year's UNFCCC meet is particularly significant as the UN has recently released reports which indicate disturbingly high levels of global warming and its effects across the world.