Commonwealth leaders will lobby for an international climate deal that includes $10 billion for next year to help poor and vulnerable states fight the effects of global warming, Reuters quoted the Maldives president s saying today. Mohamed Nasheed, whose small Indian Ocean state risks being swamped by rising sea levels caused by climate change, said the proposal for such funding was part of a draft climate statement to be issued on Saturday by Commonwealth leaders meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. "The Commonwealth is going to call for a reliable adaptation fund of $10 billion for next year, and 10 percent of that earmarked for small islands," Nasheed told Reuters in Port of Spain. "We"ve just finalized the draft and I believe that the Commonwealth is going to adopt that," he added. Leaders of the 53-nation Commonwealth have been seeking consensus for a comprehensive climate deal to be negotiated at U.N. talks in Copenhagen on Dec. 7-18. They were joined in their discussions on Friday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the presidents of Denmark and France.
