The UN climate conference in Copenhagen entered its decisive phase on Tuesday, as heads of state and government began to arrive for the final three days of negotiations. The leaders will be facing “a defining moment in history”, said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
As heads of states and governments were beginning to arrive at Copenhagen, a ceremony Tuesday marked the formal opening of the final high-level stage of the ongoing UN conference on climate change, COP15.
“We know what we must do. We know what the world expects. Our job here and now is to seal the deal, a deal in our common interest,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said according to AFP, while adding that the world’s leaders face “a defining moment in history”.
The Secretary-General also said that “three years of effort have come down to three days of action. Let us not falter in the home stretch. No one will get everything they want in this negotiation”.
According to Reuters, Ban Ki-moon labeled the negotiations lying ahead over the next three days as “the most complex and ambitious ever to be undertaken by the world community”.
South Korea to bridge rich and poor nations
As the first emerging economy to take on absolute reduction commitments, South Korea hopes to play a key role in Copenhagen where on Thursday President Lee Myung-bak will also offer to host the 2012 UN conference on climate change.
As requested by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, South Korea is ready to play a key role in Copenhagen. Also the Asian country is offering to host the COP18 – the UN conference on climate change to be held in 2012.
“I’m ready to tackle global issues such as climate change not by words, but by actions,” President Lee Myung-bak replied to the UN Secretary-General’s request, according to the Korea Times.
South Korea recently announced that it will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by four percent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels. This makes the country the first emerging economy to take on an absolute reduction commitment and not only a relative commitment compared to a business-as-usual scenario.
“I hope our green growth vision will become a beacon for other countries in participating in the global fight against climate change,” President Lee Myung-bak says according to the Korea Times.
The President is to speak at the Copenhagen summit on Thursday. The speech will also announce South Korea's offer to host the COP18. COP16 and COP17 are to be held in Mexico and South Africa, respectively
China: Poor countries are first in line for funding
So far the majority of internationally funded projects under the Kyoto Protocol have been in China. But other countries need the funds more urgently according to Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei.
China will no longer take the lion’s share of international funding for carbon mitigation projects under the UN-backed Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This is according to an interview given by Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei to the Financial Times earlier this week. The statements were first interpreted as if China would refrain totally from any financing under the scheme, but that view has now been corrected.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu tells My Sinchew that the minister “had said China was focussed on the special concerns of the least developed countries, African countries and the small island countries” and that Beijing was “willing to give priority to these countries in using the capital assistance given by developed countries”.
Still, this does not mean that China will abandon international funding, Jiang Yu clarifies:
“China, relying on its own resources, has taken a lot of measures and made great achievements. If we could get enough international support, I believe that China could do an even better job in protecting the global environment as well as fighting climate change.”
Merkel concerned over Copenhagen pace
German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced concern Tuesday about the pace of climate negotiations in Copenhagen and said she is "somewhat nervous" about prospects of success.
"These kinds of big conferences with many, many interests frequently get stuck, but it's Tuesday already and we want to be done on Friday," Merkel said after meeting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
All involved should make a "constructive contribution so that Copenhagen can be a success," Merkel said. However, she added: "I don't want to hide the fact I am somewhat nervous as to whether we will manage all that."
Yudhoyono said climate talks in Bali two years ago had shown that deadlocks can be broken. "We just need good will and openness on the part of all involved," he said.
The hoped-for deal in Copenhagen is supposed to pave the way for a final treaty to be negotiated over the next six to 12 months.
"We need international monitoring of the results of Copenhagen ... otherwise every country can promise something (and) that's not enough," Merkel said.
"We need an international mechanism that monitors things" under the auspices of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, she added
Forest negotiations are making headway
There is mounting agreement on rewarding tropical countries which slow deforestation under a new deal. This is the first issue where significant progress has been made in Copenhagen.
"We needed two critical pieces of text to catapult into a world where developing nations could see real value for saving tropical forests," says John O. Niles, Director of the Tropical Forest Group.
"Forests and forest peoples worldwide need "early action" language to fast track financing to save forests immediately. And the agreement needs clarification that national forest reference emissions levels will be discussed and decided with concrete timelines. Both of these critical dimensions of a new global forest paradigm are now very much in play," he says according to mongabay.com.
This the one of the few areas where significant progress has been made in Copenhagen, says Cara Peace, Tropical Forest Group's Assistant Director for Policy in a statement.
"Saving tropical forests has positively catalyzed the climate change negotiations - it is the only beacon in an otherwise dark night," mongabay.com cites her as saying.
According to Reuters, the latest draft text also addressed several key issues on protecting the interests of indigenous people, but activists complain that is has been moved out of a legally binding part of the text.
Further commitments needed to break negotiation deadlock
The UN climate change conference is not short of drafts, blueprints and proposals. However, economic pledges are sparse. A new blueprint, outlining three proposals for long-term climate aid, does not include any financial commitments.
"This is eyewash - it’s a paper tiger," Quamrul Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi envoy who coordinates the group of Least Developed Countries on finance issues, says in an interview in Copenhagen. "There is nothing in terms of long-term finance," he adds according to Bloomberg.
As of Tuesday, United Nations negotiators have failed to agree on the financial aid that the US, Japan and other developed nations will give to the developing world to cope with climate change, Bloomberg reports, referring to a draft document.
"The Copenhagen climate conference is in the grip of a serious deadlock," the Guardian concludes in a feature.
Japan to unveil 10 billion dollars in climate aid
A pledge of funds from rich countries will be a key ingredient for any climate change deal in Copenhagen. Japan is ready to make an offer in Copenhagen.
The pledge of 10 billion dollars over three years, including steps to protect biodiversity, is more than previously announced.
According to Reuters, Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa last week declined to say how much Japan - the world's fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases - would contribute, but said that the government wanted to pay more than a previously announced 9.2 billion dollars over three years
Schwarzenegger says states key to climate fight
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says countries cannot solve the problem of climate change without the help of states, cities, regions, activists, scientists and universities.
In a speech planned Tuesday before the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, Schwarzenegger will encourage international agreements but say that won't be enough to combat global warming.
"The world's governments alone cannot make the progress that is needed on global climate change," Schwarzenegger says in remarks prepared for delivery at the 192-nation conference. "They need the cities, the states, the provinces, the regions. They need the corporations, the activists, the scientists, the universities."
President Barack Obama and more than 100 other national leaders were heading to Copenhagen in hopes of forging the framework of a plan to limit the causes of global warming.
Schwarzenegger was invited to address the conference to highlight the efforts of states and other local governments, said his spokesman, Aaron McLear.
Schwarzenegger committed California to cutting greenhouse gas emissions three years ago.
California is on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, about a 30 percent cut from projected emissions. The statewide mandate was the first in the United States.
Developing world threatens battle on drafts
African countries, Brazil, China, South Africa and India say they have produced a default proposal to be used only if rich countries try to shortcut UN-led negotiations in Copenhagen.
At the ongoing UN conference on climate change, COP15, a group consisting of African countries plus the BASIC block – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – have drawn up a text for a new global agreement.
However, the text is only "ready in the wings (…) if any of the other groups springs a surprise draft (…) then the G-77 (Group of 77, representing most of the world’s developing countries) would put out this text," the Hindustan Times reports, quoting India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh:
"We are holding it (…) if there is a "Danish" we will produce "ABASIC"," the minister says.
By a "Danish" the minister hints at a draft text allegedly produced by the Copenhagen conference’s host last week, claimed to favor developed countries.
"ABASIC" is an acronym combining an A for Africa with BASIC, which is an informal group consisting of Brazil, South Africa, India and China.
In another interview Jairam Ramesh indicates that the default text may never be released, as the negotiations are already hampered by too many drafts:
"I think the way the (UN) working groups are functioning is not conducive to creating any form of consensus. Right now I'm really confused. If you want to maintain your sanity, don’t look at drafts," Mr. Ramesh tells Bloomberg.
Source> http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=3007
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