COP19 – Day Two

Day two of COP19 began with Filipino lead negotiator Yeb Saño well into his fast for climate action, he was also joined by a number of young people. This was coupled with WWF leading a small march outside the stadium protesting against Poland’s energy policy that favours coal. Here’s an overview of what else happened.

The IPCC’s Working Group I presented its Fifth Assessment Report (previously published in September 2013). It highlighted that humans are the dominant cause of global warming since the 1950s and stressed that global warming is “unequivocal”. The Polish Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change criticised Poland’s decision to host the Coal Summit, adding that “Poland should be ashamed of its dirty energy sector.”

The recently launched German Watch’s Global Climate Risk Index 2014 revealed that more than 530, 000 people died as a direct result of approximately 1, 500 weather events. The losses between 1993 and 2012 amounted to more than US$2.5 trillion.

Elsewhere, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) associated itself with the statement made by Fiji on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and that of Nepal made on behalf of the Least Developed Countries (LCDs) on the necessity of urgent action on climate change. AOSIS has proposed a plan under the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP), which would complement negotiations on the 2015 agreement with mitigation opportunities.

The ADP also opened with an overview of mandates and progress by the institutions, mechanisms and arrangements under the convention. The co-chair highlighted that it is critical for the ADP to advance its work in Warsaw, and push parties to agree upon a draft negotiating text by May 2015.

Originally published by The Verb: Krishnee Appadoo (c)

Where COP is at

One week into the UN climate change negotiations in Warsaw, here is an overview of what groups are still pushing too and if there has been any movement. Typhoon Haiyan has been an underlying reminder to all negotiators that there is an urgent need for concrete solutions to curb emissions.

COP19 could be seen as the linkage of climate science with climate policy, but the connection is yet to be made within the actual text (for the final agreement). Parties have a mammoth task of negotiating mutual cuts to emissions and financing clean energy funds.

It is hoped that the imminent pledges and commitments will pave the way for an internationally binding climate agreement in Paris in 2015.

There are conflicting goals, national and also regional interests from all of these groups. During these negotiations, it hasn’t been been evident how global consensus will yet be agreed upon with more focus on process negotiations as opposed to examining timelines.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres expressed the need “to urgently harness all existing momentum and use all the tools we have at our disposal to shift to low-carbon and build resilience to climate change.”

Polish Environment Minister and COP19 President Martin Korolec’s top priority at the conference has been to ensure that the negotiations are democratic and transparent, “making the parties and other partners feel responsible for their contribution.”

The EU is a key player in the negotiations and have been keen to demonstrate leadership towards an ambitious and single legally binding agreement before Paris 2015. They are expected to agree on increasing climate finance and suggest identifying alternative ways of sustaining an industrial and financial system dependent on coal, oil and gas.

There are concerns that the EU’s push to expand carbon markets would simply benefit large polluters. Tamara Gilberston from Carbon Trade Watch argued that “the European Commission and the carbon crooks who turn profits from the failing Emissions”.

Climate finance is the critical issue of these negotiations, particularly loss and damage which is still a vague principle. The US delegation is interested in resolving this, but cautious that any agreement would struggle for ratification within the US Congress.

Expectations for COP19 are still low, yet the awareness of the need for progress in the lead up to Paris is paramount. The UK’s former lead negotiator John Ashton believes that, “we are now in a critical two years… we won’t get another bite of the cherry.” The ball is, and has always been in, the negotiators court – and they have another week to do something about it.

The ball is now in the negotiators’ court and even though COP19 begins on a morose note, it is hoped that Figueres’ plea to “win the Warsaw opportunity” will not fall on deaf ears.

Originally published by The Verb - Krishnee Appadoo (c)

Link to original publication: http://www.theverb.org/where-cop-is-at/

The Africa Group and Climate Negotiations – The Underdogs

The Africa Group, a coalition of African states, looks out for the continent, and it has much at stake during these UN climate talks in Warsaw. Despite their willingness to participate, they have had little chance to voice their concerns.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agree Africa will suffer the most from climate change compared to the other continents. It is particularly vulnerable “because the capacity to adapt to climate change is limited considerably by widespread poverty.”

Since the formation of the UNFCCC in 1992, African delegates have faced major obstacles to participation. This has varied from their weaker position in the international climate system and their lower individual domestic capacities. Limited diplomatic resources have also diminished their understanding of effective practices within the process. This is why issues central to Africa like adaptation, access to finance and technology still figure prominently on their agenda.

Individual African countries have realised that their individual bargaining power is limited comparatively, hence their decision to negotiate as the African Group which is similar to other regional blocs. The generalist nature of negotiating blocs run risk of some states being marginalised in the climate negotiations. Each African state campaigns for its own voice because even within each coalition, but there will always be winners and losers.

Their understanding of the challenge that climate change poses to their economy is well underpinned through a lived experience. Average temperatures have soared over the past century and are projected to increase by three to four degrees within the next century. This will have undue impacts on crops, disease risk rates and destroy infrastructure.

Droughts in the Horn of Africa (2011) and the Sahel region (2012) exemplified this. It’s easy to see why they are pushing towards an ambitious global climate agreement by 2015.

In Warsaw, they have been advocating for greater adaptation efforts, arguing that developed countries should support them financially and politically. The Green Climate Fund agreement, that has been established over the past negotiations, have pledged to mobilise US$100 billion every year by 2020 to assist countries in adaptation and mitigation. Disappointingly, a report by the African Climate Policy Centre of the UN Economic Commission for Africa shows that, of the $29.2 billion pledged since 2009, only 45 per cent has been committed, 33 per cent allocated and about seven per cent actually disbursed.

As climate negotiations in Warsaw grind slowly along, the frustration is evident from African delegates and NGOs working in the region. This is compounded by the utter lack of interest shown from the likes of Japan, Australia, the US and Canada. Just when the African voice had grown stronger and more meaningful, it is being silenced by the inaction of developing countries.

Whatever the outcome of COP19, it already presages doom for the African continent. Africa will have to, despite its participation here, rely on grassroots and domestic efforts to cope with climate change.

Published for The Verb - Krishnee Appadoo (c) 

Original Link: http://www.theverb.org/the-africa-group-and-climate-negotiations-the-underdogs/