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CLIMATE CHANGE: Optimism Reigns in Talks

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 10 2004 (IPS) - At the end of the first week of climate change talks in the Argentine capital, government delegates were upbeat about the progress made so far – an attitude that had not been seen in the past few annual conferences.

"Usually at the end of the first week, there is a sensation of pessimism among the negotiators, but this time that’s not the case," said Raúl Estrada Oyuela, the head of the Argentine delegation, who is presiding over the 10th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-10).

"There have been difficulties, there are always those who do not want any progress to be made on any issue. But the delegates are working with enthusiasm to reach decisions that are probably not good enough, but are reasonably good," said Estrada Oyuela, who has played a leading role in the climate change talks since they began at the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil.

Alongside Estrada Oyuela in the news briefing Friday, Argentina’s secretary of the environment and sustainable development, Atilio Savino, agreed that the negotiators were making strides in the Dec. 6-17 talks, and that they were working with optimism.

Savino underlined that "over 90 ministers" will take part in the high-level segment of the conference, from Dec. 15 to 17 – a greater number than in the last four conferences.

Estrada Oyuela said the government delegates are trying to make headway on an agenda that would make it possible to obtain funding for projects in developing countries aimed at "adapting" to climate change. He added that there are already pledges to increase the funding from 100 to 340 million dollars a year as of 2005.

In addition, Argentina set forth a proposal to create a technical body that would not be a forum for negotiations, but rather for an exchange of ideas on the commitments to be assumed by the countries after the current targets on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases expire in 2012.

Argentina suggested holding two seminars in 2005, to be attended by two government experts from each country, in order to recover the initiative on the question of adopting new methodologies for establishing targets, an issue that has been discussed for some time now in non-governmental circles.

The candidate to preside over the seminars would be Michael Zammit Cutajar, executive secretary of COP-1, who is in Buenos Aires as a delegate from Malta. The proposal to hold the seminars has strong support, but must be formally approved.

Out of a total of 189 countries that signed the climate change convention, which went into effect 10 years ago, only 130 have signed the Kyoto Protocol, which fixed targets for industrialised countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases that trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere, leading to global warming.

The developed countries that have ratified the protocol, which will go into force on Feb. 16, 2005, must cut emissions to levels 5.2 percent lower than in 1990, with deadlines ranging from 2008 to 2012.

But next year, the governments must begin discussing the post-2012 scenario.

"In the past three years, there was no energy to look towards the future because we were waiting for the Kyoto Protocol to go into effect. But now the governments must once again begin to reflect on what lies ahead," said Estrada Oyuela.

"The climate to do this has greatly improved," he added.

A key aspect of that future scenario is the United States, by far the world’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, which withdrew its signature from the protocol in 2001.

The United States accounts for 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but the U.S. government of George W. Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol targets, saying they would hurt the U.S. economy, and that they were political rather than technical.

Washington also protested that big developing countries like China, India or Brazil were not forced to commit to binding emissions reduction targets.

"The main problem is that the biggest partner in the climate change convention does not form part of the commitments," said Estrada Oyuela.

New ways to measure emissions reductions, which could be on a per capita or per industrial sector basis, for example, are already being discussed in academic circles and among environmentalists.

These questions would be debated in the two seminars proposed for next year, in which the United States is willing to take part, said Estrada Oyuela.

The delegates have not yet reached agreement on the venue for the next climate change conference, which will be held in November 2005 and will coincide with the first meeting of the countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol.