AMA Vice President, Dr Choong-Siew Yong, said today's inaugural meeting of the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate is an ideal forum for Prime Minister, John Howard, to take a leadership role in regional efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Dr Yong said the Australian government must not only share clean technologies with partnership countries, but embrace these technologies in its own backyard.

The six member countries - Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United States - account for about half of the world's GDP, population, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

"Australia has an obligation as a major emitting country to commit to significant long-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions," Dr Yong said.

"It is the poorest and most vulnerable people in the region who will be the first to suffer the impact of climate change, but climate change will have a significant impact on human health well within the next hundred years," Dr Yong said.

New research, Climate Change Health Impacts in Australia: Effects of Dramatic CO2 Emission Reductions, was released jointly by the AMA and the Australian Conservation Foundation late last year.

The report shows that if emissions continue to increase, by the year 2100 up to 15,000 Australians could die every year from heat related illnesses and the dengue transmission zone could reach as far south as Brisbane and Sydney.

The AMA calls for the Government to commit to:

• A national greenhouse policy that immediately and dramatically cuts our greenhouse emissions. To avoid dangerous levels of climate change Australia needs to reduce greenhouse emissions by around 60-90 per cent by 2050
• Regulatory measures that ensure 10 per cent of Australia's electricity comes from renewable energy sources by the year 2010 (and further measures to ensure this figure grows)
• Building resilience to climate change in developing countries
• Sharing clean technologies.

For AMA comment please contact Dr Choong-Siew Yong on 0418 296 784.

11 January 2006

CONTACT: Dr Choong-Siew Yong (0418) 296 784

Judith Tokley (02) 6270 5471 / (0408) 824 306