Tuesday, August 24, 2010

REALISTIC (OR PESSIMISTIC?) OUTCOME EXPECTED FROM CANCUN SUMMIT By Fardah

Jakarta, Aug 24, 2010 (ANTARA) - World leaders still have about three months to think on what kind of outcome they expect to come out from the climate change summit to be held in Cancun, Mexico, next December.

It seems that `distrust` between developed and developing countries is still lingering in the climate talks.

The indication got clearer following the United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Bonn earlier this month which concluded with the differences widening, not narrowing, and a greater number of disputed issues .

Expressing a pessimistic view, Rachmat Witoelar, the Indonesian president`s special envoy for climate change, said recently that the 16th UN climate change conference scheduled for Nov 29-Dec 10 in Cancun, Mexico, would likely find it hard to produce a legally binding agreement.

"It is unlikely that a realistically binding agreement will be reached in Cancun," Rachmat Witoelar said at the National Climate Change Council (DNPI) in Jakarta on August 12, 2010.

It would be difficult to achieve a binding agreement at the meeting now that developed nations are skeptical of climate change in the third round of climate change meeting in Bonn, Germany, early August, he said.

"The skepticism of climate change will be an excuse for developed nations not to adopt a binding agreement. As a matter of fact, the Bali Road Map clearly states that Annex (Kyoto Protocol) nations must assist non Annex countries," he said.

Therefore, he added, Indonesia has offered compromise in a series of international meetings on climate change including the recent meeting held in Bonn, Germany.

The concept of compromise requires developed nations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and provide assistance to developing countries while at the same time developing countries voluntarily reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, he said.

"Developing countries such as South Africa and Brazil have thrown their weight behind the compromise offered by Indonesia," he said.

UN Secretary General for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Christiana Figueres also has joined developing nations in supporting the concept of compromise, he said.

Witoelar said he, along with supporters of the concept will pressure developed nations into agreeing on the pillars of agreement that may lay a basis for the adoption of legally binding agreement at the Cancun meeting.

The pillars of agreement concern fast track financing from developed nations climate change mitigation and adaptation, technological transfer and implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD).

Rachmat Witoelar, who is also chief of the Indonesian delegation to the meeting, urged all parties to be flexible to such controversial issues as global greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, including the measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) principles of developing countries and funding capacity to speed up the negotiation process.

The "compromise" would serve as the basis for the Cancun meeting to arrive at a realistic, practical and workable agreement, the Indonesian delegation said in a press statement.

He said all parties should uphold the "take and give" principle optimally to allow the longstanding negotiations to agree on efforts to save Earth.

At the Bonn meeting, developed nations were still reluctant to convey their second commitment to reduction of global greenhouse gas emission under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol to which their first commitment would expire in 2012, he said.

The Japanese, Australian and Russian delegations to the Bonn meeting proposed an end to the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol saying the developed nations` commitments must be accompanied by the binding commitments of developing countries, he said.

European Union was ready to bind itself to the second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol on condition other developed nations were prepared to affirm their equal commitment, he said.

This month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged

the Cancun meeting might not produce the definitive agreement the world body is seeking.

However, Mexico, the upcoming climate talks host, hopes to "rescue" global climate change talks by hosting a successful summit later this year that ends in concrete actions to control greenhouse gases, its chief negotiator said last August 17.

Expectations for a decisive climate change agreement this

year have been lowered as negotiators and United Nations officials cautioned that major stumbling blocks persist with just a few months before the December meeting in Cancun, Mexico, Reuters reports.

"We will not be able to negotiate a new treaty in Cancun,

that much is clear," Mexico`s chief delegate Fernando Tudela told Reuters in an interview. "But that does not mean that there can`t be a spectacular breakthrough."

One goal is to dispel the mistrust that has clouded climate

diplomacy since the failure of last year`s Copenhagen summit.

"We need to be rescued from the regime standoff left over from Copenhagen," said Tudela, a senior official of Mexico`s Ministry for the environment and natural resources.

"We have to achieve confidence, unity, and effectiveness... We need to get back trust in building an inclusive system," he said.

Meanwhile, Indian news agency PTI reported recently that Rajendra K. Pachauri , the head of the Noble-award winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), during his recent meeting with the Mexican leadership in the run-up to the crucial summit, has cautioned them to be "realistic and don`t pitch expectations very high because that will not really work."

Highlighting the need for an action on climate money, he told the host country "for heaven`s sake please get the commitment on funding.

"So I think Mexico will have to work on some of these countries to see that they (developed nations) really put some money on the table," he said, noting that of the USD 30 billion agreed by the developed states between 2010-2012, no funds have been made available so far.

He made clear that at the multilateral level it was the responsibility of the developed nations to provide funds for mitigation and adaptation to climate change and not developing nations as has been demanded by some industrialized blocks.

"They (rich nations) have to take the first step but they are not doing that," he said.

With hopes of a consensus eluding the Cancun climate meet, IPCC chairman R K Pachauri has urged host Mexico to be realistic and work hard in pushing rich nations to put climate funds on the table.

Most countries at Copenhagen signed up to an accord that

called on governments to limit the rise in global temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), but without spelling out how to achieve this goal.

However, many parties believe that outcome of the Copenhagen conference fell far short of what is needed to address climate change.

Scientists have warned that the earth`s temperature rise should be limited to no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times by the end of the century if devastating climate change is to be avoided.

The IPCC in its report noted that this can only happen if global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015 and rich nations slash their carbon pollution levels by 25 percent - 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

A number of countries attending an informal meeting on climate change in Bali last February emphasized the urgency of rebuilding trust in the runup to the Mexico Climate Change Summit late 2010.

"The greatest challenge facing all countries towards Mexico is to rebuild trust," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa told the press after chairing an informal ministerial level meeting on climate change in Nusa Dua, Bali Province, on February 26, 2010.

Many participants recognized there was lack of confidence and trust during the Copenhagen climate conference last year. Will a similar mistake be repeated in Cancun next December? ***3***

(f001/A/HAJM/16:10/a014)
(T.F001/A/F001/A/A014) 24-08-2010 17:31:39
Daerah : Jakarta (JKT)
Kembali

No comments:

Post a Comment