Sawt Falasteen - Nations allege 'attacks' on science at key climate talks

Delegates representing the EU, Switzerland and dozens of developing nations accused some countries of undermining the scientific consensus on global warming at climate negotiations due to conclude on Thursday in Bonn, Germany.

"There are powerful interests desperate to protect their wealth and influence," said Fiji's head of delegation Sivendra Michael, flanked by supporters in T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Science is Not Negotiable".

"We are seeing certain countries holding the process hostage as vulnerable people suffer heat stress, and king tides and storms, drought and famine," he said.

Bonn is where texts are drafted and differences narrowed ahead of the decisions taken by political leaders at the UN-sponsored COP31 climate talks which are due to start November 9 in Antalya, Turkey.

The preparatory talks had seen "coordinated attacks across the negotiation rooms by the small number of fossil fuel interests", said Manjeet Dhakal, an adviser to the 44-nation Least Developed Countries bloc.

These countries had tried to remove references to the IPCC -- the UN's expert scientific panel on climate change -- and the need to limit warming to 1.5C in draft texts under negotiation, Michael said.

- Pressure for delay -

No country was singled out by name.

But oil-rich Saudi Arabia had opposed language expressing concern about the El Nino weather pattern and requesting the IPCC provide regular updates on climate science, reported the independent Earth Negotiations Bulletin.

India suggested deleting any reference to "irreversible changes", added the bulletin, which tracks UN treaty negotiations and is permitted to observe talks not generally open to journalists or the public.

Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich states have been accused of frustrating climate action by exploiting the consensus-based process by which the UN-sponsored Conference of the Parties summits are governed.

India, Saudi Arabia and China have pushed for the publication of the IPCC's next major climate assessment to be delayed by a year until 2029, a move opposed by the EU among others.

"The EU calls on all parties to uphold science, support the IPCC and promote information integrity here in Bonn and beyond," said Demetris Psyllides, a representative for the 27-nation European Union.

Scientists say keeping global warming as close as possible to 1.5C relative to pre-industrial levels is essential to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

That limit was agreed by nearly 200 nations in the Paris Agreement of 2015 but could be breached by 2030.

On Tuesday, the chair and chief negotiator of the Alliance of Small Island States said she was "extremely troubled by the attempts to delink and undermine the best available science" at Bonn.

Samoan diplomat Anne Rasmussen urged all countries to "stop playing games. Do not abandon your commitment to the 1.5C goal".

F.AbuZaid--SF-PST