Greenpeace pressures Beirut on climate

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Environmental activists donned blindfolds in Beirut to raise awareness of global warming as the prime minister heads to the Danish capital for climate talks.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri left Monday for Copenhagen, Denmark, to attend an international climate summit aimed at finding an alternative to the expiring Kyoto Protocol.

Industrialized nations are looking at cutting their greenhouse gas emissions substantially by 2020 in order to counter the potential environmental impacts of global warming trends. Greenpeace said it was imperative that Middle East nations use their relationship with oil-rich Saudi Arabia to take the right steps at Copenhagen, Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper reports.

"Arab countries cannot afford denial of climate change," said Raefa Makki, a Greenpeace representative in Lebanon.

Greenpeace said it was encouraged by calls from Lebanese Environment Minister Mohammad Rahhal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent by 2012.

For Hariri, the environmental activist group said the Lebanese premier should take a "serious and strong stance" on climate change and encourage industrialized nations to commit $140 billion to help developing nations take on their environmental challenges.

Lebanon's position as a coastal nation makes it vulnerable to potential rises in sea levels that are anticipated from global temperature increases.