Australia Pressuring Tuvalu (Highest Point - 5 Meters Above Sea Level) To Back Off 1.5C Target

[hatrack]

Australia has been lobbying Tuvalu to drop its demand that global warming temperature rises be limited to 1.5 degrees, the nation's Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia says.

The tiny Pacific island nation is only five metres above sea level at its highest point, making it especially vulnerable to any future rise in sea levels that may be caused by global warming.

Mr Ielemia, who is in Copenhagen for global climate change talks, said he had received phone calls from members of Australia's delegation there. "They were just trying very diplomatically to talk me out (of my views), to arrange a meeting and probably to water me down," he told ABC Radio on Thursday. "I won't go less than 1.5. I want nothing less than a legally-binding agreement ... to be signed here in Copenhagen."

Mr Ielemia warned there would be disastrous consequences if a deal to that effect wasn't done. "To go over that limit, it will be a graveyard for all the living things in Tuvalu," he said.

EDIT

http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-world/tuvalu-cites-aussie-pressure-on-climate-20091217-kxwv.html?page=-1