Friday, September 04, 2009

Copenhagen posturing: Africa I

Ahead of the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen there are going to be many countries and regions threatening many things, walk outs, veto's and boycotts being top of the list.

This is all about political game playing and posturing ahead of the conference and can be largely ignored. There is nothing new "minimum positions" but it is true that Africa will bare the brunt of climate change and yet did very little to cause it. There is an issue of justice there somewhere.

The odds of Africa's minimum position being met are close to zero in my view.

What is does show however is just how difficult it will be to come to any sort of agreement that will have any chance of having any effect in terms of greenhouse gas emission mitigation.


Africa threatens walkout from climate talks [Daily Nation]

ADDIS ABABA, Thursday - Africa's climate change negotiators led by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi have threatened to withdraw from the upcoming global climate change talks.

The Ethiopian PM said Africa might have to walk out if the December climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, failed to agree with Africa’s minimum position.

“If need be we are prepared to walk out of any negotiations that threaten to be another rape of our continent,” he said.

Mr Zenawi told Africa ministers and European partners gathered in Addis Ababa to consolidate Africa’s expectation and position for the next global climate negotiations.

According to Africa's common position paper, the continent wants huge financial support (estimated at US$300 billion) and technology transfer from the West for mitigation and adaptation activities to curb the impact of climate crisis on the continent.

Mr Zenawi, however, hinted that his delegation will not claim compensation but fight for global action to reduce the impact of climate change.

“We will never accept any global deal that does not limit global warming to the minimum unavoidable level, no matter what level of compensation and assistance is promised to us,” he said.

“We will not be there to express its participation by merely warming the chairs or to make perfunctory speeches and statements,” Mr Zenawi said.

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Africa demands that developed countries should commit 0.5 per cent of their GDP for climate action in developing countries and commit to new and innovative sources of public and private sector finance, with the major source of funding coming from the public sector.


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Rich nations need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80 to 95 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Africa also demanded from the West better climate change adaptation fund worth US$67 billion per year by 2020.

Developed countries should commit to the deployment, diffusion and transfer of technology to developing countries, based on principles of accessibility, affordability, appropriateness and adaptability.


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Walk outs will acomplish nothing. Africa has a relatively low weight in these talks, and abandoning the summit will assure that none of its demands are met.

Staying in, pushing for reductions and technology transfer and perhaps jumping into the Payment for Ecosystem Services bandwagon could be far more productive.

Anonymous said...

At the Global Creative Leadership Summit last week, a panel was held entitled "National Targets, Global Challenge: Climate Change, Copenhagen and Beyond." Jeff Felmy began with an impassioned plea: “The first thing we need to do is agree on the facts and then we can talk about policy.” Much of the subsequent discussion focused on diagnosing the problem of climate change from different perspectives without touching much on substantive policy prescriptions, although Aart de Geus did urge governments to levy taxes on emissions to encourage business growth in the “right direction,” and for governments to coordinate their actions “as collectively as possible.”

To read more visit:
http://www.creativeleadershipsummit.org/?q=node/774

Unknown said...

I totaly agree with the fact that rich countries should pay the development of African countries... However... Only if it is possible to track down to where the money goes. European countries they already face problems regarding corruption so what about this? South Sinai-Sharm's Deserts-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkfynjunJiA
As far as we all know there was money coming to solve this. What we see is the rubbish growing daily!!