by frog
I’ve been meaning to blog on the Cop16 UN Climate Change Conference that kicked off in Cancun yesterday, but there hasn’t been much news forthcoming other than the traffic jams that kept delegates and foreign dignitaries trapped in buses for hours yesterday.
Luckily, New Zealand has some very inspiring and intelligent representatives in Cancun as part of the Youth Delegation, and their blog makes for excellent and informative reading. Here’s an overview of the issues at stake:
You may remember the mayhem which was the last COP (Conference of the Parties) in Copenhagen last year. The world was watching- and was disappointed. No legally binding treaty was formed; fair, ambitious or otherwise. This year, expectations have dropped dramatically. No one you speak to here expects a treaty to be finalised in Cancun. There are too many stalemates to be worked through, too much money to be found, and too many sticky issues left to be resolved.
These lowered expectations are representative of a general lack of faith in the UNFCCC process which has emerged since Copenhagen. The UNFCCC process itself is on trial at COP-16. Even the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Christina Figueres, admitted this yesterday in her opening speech. Where COP-15 started with a spirit of optimism and hope, COP-16 has began yesterday with a decent amount of skepticism. But there are many who are hopeful that significant progress can be made in the next two weeks towards a global deal in the future.
Critical to whether COP-16 is seen as a success is whether progress on climate finance can be achieved. There is a good chance a global climate finance fund may be established, or at least the rules figured out. But who pays, who is represented in the governance of the fund, and where the money goes are all contentious issues that divide developed and developing countries.
The Mexican President has also emphasized the establishment of the REDD+ scheme as a main goal of Cancun. This is a scheme which aims to incentivize halting deforestation in developing countries. But whether this scheme is a fund or whether it will be a market based mechanism is yet to be decided on. If it is included in the carbon market, there are serious concerns over developed countries continuing business as usual at home and simply buying offsets from the REDD+ scheme to meet targets. Indigenous communities also have serious concerns over rights to their land being reduced through REDD+.
There are larger, broader obstacles to success here. The recent US election means that the US administration has little power to ratify any commitments made here, and its position here may reflect this. This is a serious concern as the US still holds considerable power to block progress in all areas.
The Kyoto Protocol hangs in the balance. The negotiations around the Kyoto Protocol are concerned with designing the rules around the second commitment period, which starts in 2012. The validity of the Kyoto Protocol long term is debatable, but most people agree that it is the only deal we have at this point, and that we need to strengthen it. It also has the rules and institutions which could contribute to the global deal which may or may not replace it. Japan has announced it wants to ditch the Kyoto protocol altogether, and Canada and Russia seem to be following suit. If they do, it would render the Kyoto useless as it would only cover around 16% of the worlds emissions.
Tim Grosser, minister of trade negotiations, arrives this week and is facilitating the working group on mitigation. We will be keeping a close eye on our New Zealand government delegation over the next two weeks, and how they behave.
So despite the lowered expectations and attention, COP-16 is forging ahead. Outside, civil society is organizing and will have a huge presence in the next two weeks. People have travelled far and wide to make their voice heard, and they plan on doing it as loudly as possible.
So lets see what kind of show this circus puts on this year! Watch this space….
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Wed, December 1st, 2010
Tags: climate change, Cop 16, Youth delegation
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
The fact is globalisation and new technology consumption is increasing emmissions and the west meeting or failing to meet its 5% cut target is a sideshow to this.
One of the problems is whether to cover domestic production emmssions or emmissions to provide for domestic consumption. With global production transferring to cheaper labour nations – some western countries have and still are losing production offshore while claiming to be reducing local emmissions. But their consumption demand may not be falling at all and the production offshore may be less emmissions clean thatn their own had been earlier.
New Zealand for example will have been increasing its methane emmissions with the increase in dairy production – but the increase is being exported. Should the producer or the consumer be meeting the “Kyoto cost” of this production?
IMO what is required is a new agreement that is focised on best practice (energy efficiency/low emmission wise) industry standards in production and it’s inefficiency here that needs to be penalised to create an incentive for improvement (wherever the production occurs). This is best done through the WTO – a tariff regime on internationally traded goods based on their industry production rating.
The money from the tariffs given back to developing world nations (based on how much tariffs they paid in – but the money only available to buy energy efficient/lower emmission production technology). That should boost the business of cleaner tech development.
The poor/undeveloped nations given clean technology as part of development project assistance.
As for the rainforests – assistance to use the wood AND replant enables economic growth and maitenance of the forest. That reduces local pressure to use the land for non forestry purpose. That and investment in tourism ventures would help.
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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Japan-refuses-to-extend-Kyoto–endangers-talks/719759
The statement by Japan, that they would not participate in a Kyoto extension, marks this process as being more difficult… and I would not expect the WTO to aid us in providing teeth. Not given the entities in control of that organization.
Japan is desperately struggling to return to a growth based economy. A 20 year long stagnation is what it has had.
SPC has some good suggestions, but I suggest that the tariff regime is made independent of the WTO… unless that august body can be made more responsible to the needs of people, not corporations.
respectfully
BJ
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NZYD is an organisation run by youth, for youth, engaging with New Zealanders on climate change issues and bringing a youthful perspective
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