Bali Launches Climate Negotiations
but is Weak on Substance
15 Dec 2007 - Bali, Indonesia – Political
leaders meeting in Bali for the UN’s Climate
Change Summit hammered out a deal which launches
formal negotiations with a 2009 end date,
but the deal falls short in its ambition,
says WWF.
Governments gathered in Bali for the most
important climate talks in a decade to put
on track a future treaty that would cut developed
countries’ emissions 25 to 40 percent below
11000 levels by 2020. The findings of the
IPCC’s 4th Assessment Report, awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize this year, shows clearly
that to keep the world below 2°C warming
compared with pre-industrial times, global
emissions need to peak and decline before
2020.
During an emotional showdown in the final
hours of the 15-day meeting, the US delegation,
under intense public pressure, decided to
join in the global talks. The price of US
participation, however, was a deal weak on
substance.
“The US administration was asked to get out
of the way, and in the end they bowed to pressure,”
says Hans Verolme, Director of WWF’s Global
Climate Change Programme. “The Bali Roadmap
leaves a seat at the table for the next US
president to make a real contribution to the
global fight to stop dangerous climate change.”
Over the next two years, industrialized countries
need to agree to deep emission cuts, and to
leverage new funding and support for technology
transfer, finance and adaptation. The EU and
leading developing countries such as Brazil,
China and South Africa will have to propose
a workplan for this two-year negotiation marathon.
These talks will have to make up for Bali’s
shortcomings.
On some of the practical building blocks
of a future climate change regime, good progress
has been made: technology transfer has been
given appropriate attention, including technologies
for mitigation and adaptation as well as financial
incentives. The Adaptation Fund has finally
been implemented but additional financing
and technical support for the poorest countries
will have to be created.
The commitment to address tropical deforestation,
also known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
and Degradation (REDD), is another building
block in the Bali Roadmap. Governments have
recognized that 20 percent of emissions are
from forest loss, and they now have two years
to nail down the rules on how REDD will be
implemented.
"A strong, well-funded REDD mechanism
will enable tropical forest countries to develop
their economies without destroying their forests.
In doing so, they will make a real contribution
to mitigating global climate change,"
says Rodney Taylor, Director of WWF’s Global
Forest Programme. "The mechanism must
include safeguards to ensure that REDD projects
benefit forest-dependent people and conserve
biodiversity."
Martin Hiller, Communications Manager
WWF Global Climate Change Programme
+ More
US Government Proposal Has Potential to Derail
Bali Climate Conference
14 Dec 2007 - A move by the US government
could push the Bali climate negotiations to
the brink of failure, WWF officials warned.
The US proposal would eliminate language that
called upon developed nations to consider
specific, internationally binding, quantified
reduction commitments, replacing it with text
that calls upon countries to adopt any measures
they deem appropriate.
“At the eleventh hour the US has submitted
a proposal that is the equivalent of taking
no action at all against climate change,”
WWF International Director General James P
Leape said. “This proposal would gut the international
effort towards halting climate change and
put the future of our planet at risk.”
More than 50 members of the US Congress from
both parties wrote to President Bush urging
him to shift gears and play a constructive
role in bringing these negotiations to a productive
close.
“The Bush administration has a moral obligation
to make commitments that are commensurate
with their contribution to the climate crisis,”
said WWF Global Climate Change Director Hans
Verolme. “The US government, aided by a small
group of nations including Canada and Japan,
has over the last few days thrown up several
roadblocks in the negotiations. We are pleased
that several large emerging economies, including
China, Brazil, and South Africa, are still
showing flexibility and creativity in their
contributions to the Bali negotiations. That
is the same spirit one would hope we could
expect from the US. With these actions, the
US jeopardizes the agreements that have already
been reached on deforestation, technology
and adaptation.”
