Clock ticks as negotiators eye a plan to fight climate change
Source: Agencies |
November 2, 2009, Monday
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NEGOTIATORS from nearly 180 countries hope to nail down the outline of a plan to provide tens of billions of US dollars a year to fight climate change, in their final round of talks before a decisive conference in Copenhagen next month.
The five-day meeting beginning today in Barcelona, Spain, will resume work on the draft of an agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first international accord on controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases.
They are charged with whittling down a thick draft document full of competing proposals, disputed wording and minority-backed options, and crafting a workable agreement that can be accepted by all 192 nations due to attend the December 7-18 Copenhagen conference in Denmark.
But with time swiftly running out, skepticism is mounting that one of the most complex treaties in history can be reached, as envisioned when the negotiations began two years ago.
Deep divisions remain among industrial countries and the developing world on commitments by the rich countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and on how the developing countries can lower the upward trajectory of their own emissions.
"It is realistic to say that in Copenhagen we will not be able to conclude a treaty, but it is important to lay down a political framework which will be the basis of the treaty," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Brussels last Friday.
Even with that framework, she said, "negotiations will drag out longer until we get a treaty."
Environment advocates caution against losing faith and momentum.
"It is crucial that we keep ambitions high," said Kim Carstensen, the global climate strategist for the World Wildlife Fund, concerned that cascading pessimism could contribute to failure in Copenhagen.
The Kyoto Protocol required 37 countries to reduce emissions by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012, but made no demands on emerging countries. The US renounced it as unfair and harmful to its economy.
Oxfam International called it an "opening bid for climate justice that is nowhere near enough."
The five-day meeting beginning today in Barcelona, Spain, will resume work on the draft of an agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first international accord on controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-changing gases.
They are charged with whittling down a thick draft document full of competing proposals, disputed wording and minority-backed options, and crafting a workable agreement that can be accepted by all 192 nations due to attend the December 7-18 Copenhagen conference in Denmark.
But with time swiftly running out, skepticism is mounting that one of the most complex treaties in history can be reached, as envisioned when the negotiations began two years ago.
Deep divisions remain among industrial countries and the developing world on commitments by the rich countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and on how the developing countries can lower the upward trajectory of their own emissions.
"It is realistic to say that in Copenhagen we will not be able to conclude a treaty, but it is important to lay down a political framework which will be the basis of the treaty," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Brussels last Friday.
Even with that framework, she said, "negotiations will drag out longer until we get a treaty."
Environment advocates caution against losing faith and momentum.
"It is crucial that we keep ambitions high," said Kim Carstensen, the global climate strategist for the World Wildlife Fund, concerned that cascading pessimism could contribute to failure in Copenhagen.
The Kyoto Protocol required 37 countries to reduce emissions by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012, but made no demands on emerging countries. The US renounced it as unfair and harmful to its economy.
Oxfam International called it an "opening bid for climate justice that is nowhere near enough."
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