A few of my friends recently went to Bonn to witness the negotiations that will be culminated in COP 15- Copenhagen. Ridhima went as a part of WWF delegation while Leela represented the youth. Almost all the major INGOs, Research Organisations, etc participated in this conference. Around 3000 people were representing their nations. Did I hear 3000???!!! Getting 3000 people from nook and cranny of the world involves huge cost, of course adds to the carbon emissions and other factors. A magnum opus, if I can say!
So much to combat climate change…
Let me not sound hopeless and cynical. This time round, Bonn did manage to have set the stage for going towards the right direction. It began with the 53- page document included the thoughts and views of all the nations. Long- term cooperative action (AWG- LCA) was put on the table and parties expressed their views etc on it. The LCA text compiled by the Chair for negotiations went to first and second rounds of readings by the parties and the modifications/additions which inflated this report to 200 pages. AWG- KP (deals primarily with obligations of developed countries in terms of emission reduction targets a financial and technological support to NA1) led to heated discussions but underlined that these countries need to act more and talk less. Yvo De Boer, UNFCCC Executive Secretary said, “The big achievement of the meeting is that it has made clear what governments want to see in a Copenhagen agreement, which shows their commitment to reaching an agreement. ” he added that Annex- I (industrialised nations) should set ambitious targets.
The main highlight was Japan’s mid-term emission reduction announcements at LCA. A 15 % reduction target by 2020 was announced by using the base year 2005. This is equivalent to -8% compared to 1990. The Japanese delegation felt that the target was ambitious. Japan is ready to provide technical assistance to countries who participate in 2012 framework. The innovative technology use and nuclear power combined with mid-term targets would eventually reduce the emissions by 25% in 2030 and 70% in 2050.
This announcement by their Prime Minister Taro Aso attracted criticism from all quarters, including Japan’s civil society groups which called it an industry- driven move. Countries like Japan and US have seen their emissions rise considerably since 1990. Japan’s Kyoto’s commitment is 6% reduction during the five years commitment period. If the target is –8%, it means Japan it adds up only 2% in the next 8 years!
The Indian Delegation led by Mr. Shyam Saran, in a press conference, provided clarifications and cleared India’s stance on various issues at the negotiations. He expressed that the expectations from the Copenhagen package will be comprehensive, balanced and based on principles of equity, where mitigation and adaptation is supported by finance and technology transfer to developing countries. He emphasised that a global challenge needs collaborative and not a competitive response. Developing countries only demand confining to the legal treaty that has been signed by all parties in 1992 (UNFCCC). His optimism about the negotiation process was reflected in his statement that India believes negotiations have not reached a deadlock, but are moving at a slow pace.
The whole debate of the developed nations should pay their historical debt, the developing – the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and least responsible for historic emissions have been doing rounds for a long time. I have a simple point – while its necessary to be negotiating on this aspect, yet we need to see within. India is the ‘greenest’ nation (as a survey in a recent newspaper claimed) is because of the fact that the majority are poor. We as urbanites, the haves, are polluting as much as any person living in a developed nation and it’s the poor who are neutralising are extravaganzas. This business of carbon credits and carbon trading will be exploited by us rather than benefiting the majority. Isn’t it?
Ridhima gifted me a very interesting t- shirt that says ‘How old will you be in 2050?’ and I was looking at this site- www.adoptanegotiator.org/ that Leela is a part of to see the youth perspective. It is our future they are talking about and its us who are missing in the action. Experts in this field are arrogant and often feel that youth are not capable of bringing about solutions as we are not really serious and this is just a phase and soon the activism shall die. Well, hello! The youth groups around the world proved their enthusiasm, commitment and hope by being there and doing their own thing- rapping in plenary hall, distributing a note to their respective govts on what they feel etc etc. We need to realise that singing and dancing around doesn’t in any way mean that we are un- serious!
That waiting game has begun and lets hope something come out of COP 15, I mean it better after these guys have contributed so much in terms of carbon emissions!!
With inputs from: Ridhima and google news (zindabad!!)
So much to combat climate change…
Let me not sound hopeless and cynical. This time round, Bonn did manage to have set the stage for going towards the right direction. It began with the 53- page document included the thoughts and views of all the nations. Long- term cooperative action (AWG- LCA) was put on the table and parties expressed their views etc on it. The LCA text compiled by the Chair for negotiations went to first and second rounds of readings by the parties and the modifications/additions which inflated this report to 200 pages. AWG- KP (deals primarily with obligations of developed countries in terms of emission reduction targets a financial and technological support to NA1) led to heated discussions but underlined that these countries need to act more and talk less. Yvo De Boer, UNFCCC Executive Secretary said, “The big achievement of the meeting is that it has made clear what governments want to see in a Copenhagen agreement, which shows their commitment to reaching an agreement. ” he added that Annex- I (industrialised nations) should set ambitious targets.
The main highlight was Japan’s mid-term emission reduction announcements at LCA. A 15 % reduction target by 2020 was announced by using the base year 2005. This is equivalent to -8% compared to 1990. The Japanese delegation felt that the target was ambitious. Japan is ready to provide technical assistance to countries who participate in 2012 framework. The innovative technology use and nuclear power combined with mid-term targets would eventually reduce the emissions by 25% in 2030 and 70% in 2050.
This announcement by their Prime Minister Taro Aso attracted criticism from all quarters, including Japan’s civil society groups which called it an industry- driven move. Countries like Japan and US have seen their emissions rise considerably since 1990. Japan’s Kyoto’s commitment is 6% reduction during the five years commitment period. If the target is –8%, it means Japan it adds up only 2% in the next 8 years!
The Indian Delegation led by Mr. Shyam Saran, in a press conference, provided clarifications and cleared India’s stance on various issues at the negotiations. He expressed that the expectations from the Copenhagen package will be comprehensive, balanced and based on principles of equity, where mitigation and adaptation is supported by finance and technology transfer to developing countries. He emphasised that a global challenge needs collaborative and not a competitive response. Developing countries only demand confining to the legal treaty that has been signed by all parties in 1992 (UNFCCC). His optimism about the negotiation process was reflected in his statement that India believes negotiations have not reached a deadlock, but are moving at a slow pace.
The whole debate of the developed nations should pay their historical debt, the developing – the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and least responsible for historic emissions have been doing rounds for a long time. I have a simple point – while its necessary to be negotiating on this aspect, yet we need to see within. India is the ‘greenest’ nation (as a survey in a recent newspaper claimed) is because of the fact that the majority are poor. We as urbanites, the haves, are polluting as much as any person living in a developed nation and it’s the poor who are neutralising are extravaganzas. This business of carbon credits and carbon trading will be exploited by us rather than benefiting the majority. Isn’t it?
Ridhima gifted me a very interesting t- shirt that says ‘How old will you be in 2050?’ and I was looking at this site- www.adoptanegotiator.org/ that Leela is a part of to see the youth perspective. It is our future they are talking about and its us who are missing in the action. Experts in this field are arrogant and often feel that youth are not capable of bringing about solutions as we are not really serious and this is just a phase and soon the activism shall die. Well, hello! The youth groups around the world proved their enthusiasm, commitment and hope by being there and doing their own thing- rapping in plenary hall, distributing a note to their respective govts on what they feel etc etc. We need to realise that singing and dancing around doesn’t in any way mean that we are un- serious!
That waiting game has begun and lets hope something come out of COP 15, I mean it better after these guys have contributed so much in terms of carbon emissions!!
With inputs from: Ridhima and google news (zindabad!!)
1 comment:
Completely right,if you aggregate the emissions from all these conferences they might be exceeding the emissions from some of the sub-saharan countries. The excuse is that they are 'offsetting' all the emissions.Are you here to pay to pollute or are you here to stop climate change.
I feel the delegates should just be transported to Maldives or any other country with a danger of submerging and they'll have to come to a conclusion or they would submerge themselves!
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