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CLIMATE CHANGE: China’s Flexibility Wins Praise

Marwaan Macan-Markar

NUSA DUA, Bali, Dec 11 2007 (IPS) - China has emerged as a leader in the list of important developing countries, winning praise for accommodation from civil society groups at a major United Nations climate conference here. Two others are Brazil and South Africa.

The tributes showered on the Asian giant stem from the measures pursued by Beijing’s officials during the initial round of discussions. Their stance contrasts with the uncertainty before the Dec. 3-14 United Nations climate change conference began.

‘’China has been more active here than in past conferences,’’ says Jennifer Morgan, director of climate energy and security of Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G), an international non-governmental organisation (NGO). ‘’They are showing remarkable flexibility during all the rounds of negotiations. They have come here prepared to be a player.’’

‘’It stems from its awareness that climate change is bad for its environment and it will not help meet its development goals,’’ she told IPS. ‘’This thinking is behind the positions it has displayed in the papers it has prepared and distributed to the officials at this conference.’’

Hans Verlome, director for the global climate change programme at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an international green lobby said: ‘’A group of major emerging economies including China, South Africa and Brazil showed clarity of vision (during the first week) to tackle technology transfer by proposing a platform for public-private partnerships for technology cooperation.’’

India, the other Asian giant expected to leave its stamp at the conference, has failed to win similar accolades from activists. And that despite both China and India being ranked as major emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the developing world in recent scientific reports on climate change.

‘’India is sticking to the old drum beat that the industrialised countries have been the major polluters of the environment through history and they have no right to be preaching about the need for change in the developing world,’’ says Krishnaswamy Srinivas, team leader for the climate and energy campaign at the India office of Greenpeace. ‘’They are not telling this conference, unlike China, what plans they have for renewable energy to address the global warming problem.’’

‘’Call it arrogance, call it fear, but they are not getting their message across like China has done. And India has some good projects for renewable energy growth,’’ he told IPS. ‘’This does not help to take the negotiations forward.’’

Malaysia, by contrast, has taken a different approach. It has used the occasion to acknowledge its willingness to accept the findings in the recent scientific reports on climate change but made a case for more time to translate it into measure that were compatible with its development agenda.

‘’They admitted a need to do more climate change studies in the country and how the findings should be translated into national economic policy,’’ Martin Khor, head of Third World Network, a Malaysia-based think tank, told IPS. ‘’No country has yet figured out what the recommendations of the scientific studies mean for the development plans and the GDP (gross domestic product) calculations.’’

Most disappointing for the environmentalists, however, has been the extreme stance maintained by Saudi Arabia during the long hours of negotiations, which move into a ministerial-level discussion from Wednesday through Friday. Nearly 130 environment ministers have flown in for that decisive round to shape the final document due to come out of this conference, which runs from Dec. 3 – 14, the Bali Roadmap.

‘’The Saudi position has been more extreme than India,’’ says Srinivas. ‘’They have raised the red flag on all the major themes that this conference is trying to find answers to. They are simply saying they need to pollute with their oil supplies in order to survive.’’

The main pillars around which the negotiations are taking place are to agree on a time-bound course of action for mitigation of global GhG emissions, including arresting deforestation, for which the developed world already have targets specified under the Kyoto Protocol, which was added to the U.N. Framework on Climate Change.

The other pillars are funds from the developed world to help the vulnerable developing countries adapt to a changing environment, transfer of green-friendly technology from the North to the Global South, and funds to support environmentally sustainable growth.

According to official sources IPS spoke with, negotiators from the weaker and vulnerable developing countries, including the small island nations, have used the talks, so far, to push for an adaptation fund to finance the high cost of adjusting their domestic lifestyles and work due to the havoc expected from climate change.

The urgency for such funds was confirmed by Tommy E. Remengesau, President of Palau, an island-nation in the Pacific Ocean. ‘’We are living the affects of climate change. It has impacted our coral reefs and our fishermen and farmers cannot plan their lives with certainty,’’ he said at a press conference Tuesday.

But representatives from countries like Brazil are still hopeful that some sort of commitment will emerge at Bali b the end of the week. ”We are giving utmost importance to this conference. Brazil wants to see a positive result,’’ said Celso Amorim, that country’s foreign minister. ‘’That is why Brazil proposed a roadmap for this conference.’’