CAIRO, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - African states are expected to demand compensation from industrial countries for climate change during a UN summit in Copenhagen later this year, Arab media reported on Tuesday.
"The proposition is that it has to be an amount significant enough to lead to rapid, sustainable development and industrialization of developing countries, in particular Africa," Lumumba Di-Aping, Sudan's deputy UN representative, said at a gathering of African officials in Ethiopia.
He said the compensation "could be anything up to 5% of global GDP," which would be equivalent to around $3 trillion.
African countries are to develop a united position on climate change during a summit in Libya by the end of this month, when a final decision on the compensation claim is due to be taken.
African leaders also suggested that developed countries should cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2020, and that richer nations should provide $67 billion a year to help the least well-being countries to cope with climate change and rising temperatures.
UN Environment Program estimates say that between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa may face water shortages by 2020, and the continent will need up to $50 billion every year to cope with the effects of climate change.
Thousands of experts and politicians from all over the world are expected to attend the UN summit on the climate change, which is due to be held from September 7 to September 18 in Copenhagen. The delegates will attempt to negotiate a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, as some of its elements expire in 2012.
