Africa hopeful of successful Climate Change talks

Africa hopeful of successful Climate Change talks
Ugonma Cokey, Germany

African Group in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation says it is working towards ensuring a successful Conference of Parties (COP) 17 scheduled for Durban, South Africa.

The Group said that COP 17 in Durban will only be termed successful if it delivers concrete decisions that will keep Africa safe.

Commitment to Kyoto protocol

According to the Chairman of the African Group, Mr Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, the first those decisions should be a second commitment period for Kyoto protocol.

This, Mr Tosi Mpanu said the meeting was to ensure the continuation of the international legal instrument, which for Africans represents the highest level of effort towards the reduction of Green House Emissions.

He said that though the Kyoto Protocol was not sufficient, it was a cornerstone to stimulate the willingness of all the parties to move further into the fight against climate change.

Proposed “Pledge and review”

But while African countries are expecting a second commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, some industrialised countries, including the US, are calling for the introduction of “pledge and review”.

“Pledge and review” is the name given to the proposal by the US to replace legally binding emission units.

Under the “Pledge and Review,” countries’ climate pollution reduction targets are set individually with no reference to what science requires or what countries are doing.

The Chair of the African Group, in the UNFCCC negotiation, which began on June 6, in Bonn, Germany, Mr Tosi Mpanu Mpanu said that the “Pledge and Review” would not keep Africa safe and cannot be reported.

Mr Tosi Mpanu stressed the need for Industrialised countries to take the lead by reducing what science requires and show leadership. He said: “they are the ones who have shown us in many ways political leadership, economic leadership, military leadership, we will like them to show us environmental leadership also”.

Industrialized nations tasked on environmental leadership

Africa and other developing countries are calling for a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, as the first ends in 2011.

This they say is to ensure the continuation of the top-down science-based approach to emissions targets, while respecting the established principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) among countries.

Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) is a principle in the original climate change convention agreed to by all countries in 1992. It enables countries to take different responsibilities at the international level based on their historical responsibility, different resources and capacity to respond to climatic changes.

But some countries led by the US are trying to deregulate the climate regime by introducing “Pledge and Review’’ instead of a system of binding targets.

COP 17 expectations

The current talks due to end on the June 17 represent a critical milestone on the road to the Conference of Parties (COP) 17 meeting scheduled for late November in Durban, South Africa.

This the African Group Chair said the conference would not just be a South African COP, but a Pan-African COP, stressing that all Africa countries had a vested interest in ensuring that the COP was successful.

A recent UNEP report shows that countries commitments to emission reduction are way below levels necessary to avert dangerous climate change and could lead to a 5oC rise in temperature.

It says a 5C of warming unprecedented in human history, would lead to severe impacts, and is far above any of the stated objectives in international climate change.

Again, a recent report by the Stockholm Environment Institute reveals that current rules of accounting, which decides what an emission is and what is not, could result in carbon pollution from industrialised countries leading to an increase by 2020.

Emma/Williams