Maldives fails to convince peers to go "carbon neutral"

By Maryam Omidi

MALE (Reuters) - A group of developing countries agreed Tuesday to "green" their economies but stopped short of promising to become "carbon neutral" as a way to spur big polluters into action at climate talks next month.

The president of the Maldives had hoped a summit he was hosting would result in a promise by all present to commit themselves to become carbon neutral within a decade.

Instead, the summit's final declaration said: "We will commence greening our economies as our contribution toward achieving carbon neutrality."

"In short, we have been able to agree that development and green technology or less-carbon development is possible," President Mohamed Nasheed said.

The summit was attended by Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Kiribati, Barbados, Bhutan, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania -- countries which are among the lowest emitters of greenhouse gas but are vulnerable to the worst impacts of climate change including desertification, drought, floods and storm surges.

In March, Nasheed outlined plans to make the Maldives the world's first carbon-neutral nation within a decade -- meaning it would not emit a net amount of the gases blamed for causing climate change.

Last month he and his cabinet donned diving gear to hold the world's first underwater cabinet meeting, in a symbolic cry for help over rising sea levels that threaten the Indian Ocean archipelago's existence.

The Copenhagen talks are supposed to find a successor to the 1997 Kyoto climate treaty, but negotiations have stalled as rich and poor nations remain divided on how to share the burden of emissions cuts and how to fund the deal. [nLA713064]

"It's a moral issue, it's a financial issue, it's a social issue and it's a human rights issue," Ghana's environment minister, Sherry Ayittey, told Reuters, insisting developed countries do more. "We expect them to be committed to a reduction in emissions. This is non-negotiable."