Governor Apirak Kosayodhin said on Thursday that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) next Wednesday would sign the Bangkok Declaration on Mitigation of Climate Change with 23 public and private organisations at the UN building.

The aim is to reduce the contribution of the metropolis to climate change problems.

Anond Snidvongs, a climate change expert at Chulalongkorn University, said Bangkok is a major source of greenhouse gases in the country, as 3050 per cent of total energy consumption is concentrated here.

Statistics show that last year Bangkok residents devoured 206 million kilowatts of electricity, 34 million litres of oil, 400,000 litres of gasohol and 25,000 kilograms of natural gas.

Joining with the BMA are the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency.

After the declaration was signed, a campaign to alert citydwellers to the rising temperatures around the world would be launched.

Apirak also called on households to turn off all electric appliances next Wednesday, starting at 7pm.

"We will show Bangkokians how much energy we can save by not consuming electricity for 15 minutes," he said.

The Bangkok Declaration outlines five ways to mitigate global warming - reduce energy and natural resources consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote lifestyles that uphold the sufficiency economy, promote activities that help absorb greenhouse gases and build public awareness of global warming.

The BMA's campaign comes along with the global summit on Climate Change Mitigation, which kicked off on Monday and entered its final phase last night. The summit of the Intergovernmetal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) would end today and an executive summary for policymakers to mitigate the problems would be publicised.

Apirak said the resolution of the IPCC would be discussed again at the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit to be held in New York in two weeks. At that summit, leaders of municipal governments and international businesses from over 40 world cities, including Bangkok, would gather to discuss their roles in the reduction of carbon emissions and the reversal of dangerous climate change.

by Jeerawan Prasomsap, Pennapa Hongthong

Silent Thais keep cool amid heated debate on global warming

Science gets a political spin at global-warming summit

Climate change meet will be 'fiery'

Gulf sea level 'unlikely to rise'

Raising the alarm on the greatest threat to global security

More heat, more floods, more cold