…says Chair of one Ad Hoc Working Group
THERE has been progress in the climate negotiations in the areas of REDD+, adaptation and agriculture and technology but less so in mitigation and finance in the run up to the Cancun Summit in less than two weeks.
This is according to the Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), Mrs. Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe. She was speaking at the Pre-COP Ministerial Meeting in Mexico City from November 4 – 5, 2010.
“In my view, the AWG-LCA has almost concluded its work on adaptation, REDD+, agriculture and technology, and could deliver concrete results on those areas without having to devote much time to them in Cancún,” she said.
“Other issues like the use of market-based mechanisms or other approaches to enhance the cost-effectiveness of mitigation actions or the issue of capacity-building, while they progressed in Tianjin, further work will be needed,” she said.
Mukahanana-Sangarwe said that the issue of a shared vision for long-term cooperative action has proven more complex. “I am aware that Parties have deeply held views on the fundamental questions involved. Still, it is my assessment that Parties will be ready in Cancún to confirm a long-term global goal for emission reductions, at least initially expressed as an objective to limit the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level, in the context of the relevant principles. Such an agreement would be made possible by agreeing at the same time to launch an effective and meaningful process to review the long term global goal and the progress in reaching that goal,” she said.
She noted however that agreement in these areas will not be reached without movement on the difficult issues which are at the core of a package in Cancún, namely Mitigation, including measurement, reporting and verification or MRV; and Finance, including governance and long-term financing.
“It is my assessment that in order for Cancún to deliver an outcome, we need to address the apparent deadlock over mitigation commitments by developed country Parties under the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol,” she said.
The Chair said that with regards to mitigation, there are two challenges. “First, the relationship between AWG-KP and AWG-LCA when it comes to mitigation by developed country Parties and, second, the balance between mitigation commitments by developed country Parties and mitigation actions by developing country Parties,” she said.
She said that she understands the difficulties surrounding commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, but that parties need to come to an understanding of how to make incremental progress on that question in Cancun in order for progress on developed country mitigation in the context of the AWG-LCA.
She said that agreement on a step forward on developed country mitigation in the context of the LCA is also dependent on progress on actions by developing country Parties. “In turn, progress on developing country mitigation depends strongly on progress on mitigation by developed country Parties as well as on long-term finance. This creates a series of interconnected chicken and egg situations, which calls for compromise and political leadership to seek a middle ground,” she said.
“This circle can be broken by working simultaneously on incremental progress on [developed country] mitigation under the Convention and under the Protocol. This can be done by adopting a decision capturing the information on mitigation targets and actions currently on the table and providing direction to further work in both AWGs post-Cancún.
The Chair is confident that Parties can agree on launching implementation of the early phases of activities relating to REDD-plus. “This is essential in order to maintain the momentum for international cooperative action in the forest sector,” she said.
The Chair said that finance is the third core element of the Cancún Package and the key to progress. “There we have two components: the establishment of a new climate fund and the mobilization of long-term finance and the oversight over financial flows. In my view, the establishment of the new fund is a key element of the outcome and I am confident that this can be completed,” she said.
While she noted that there is more uncertainty on how to take the mobilization of long-term finance forward, she said that a pragmatic solution could be for Cancún to launch a strategic process involving Ministries of Environment and Finance that builds on the findings of the SG’s Advisory Panel on Climate Financing.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, whose championing of the issue of climate change has been unrivalled over the past years, was selected by UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon to be a part of this panel.