Day 5: not much progress

First signs of negotiators are failing - this was evident on Friday with negotiators from India, China, Europe, US and Africa could not progress much on critical issues of emission reductions, finance and technology transfer.

Updated on: Dec 11, 2009, 19:31:58 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan

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Day 5: Main issues

First signs of negotiators are failing - this was evident on Friday with negotiators from India, China, Europe, US and Africa could not progress much on critical issues of emission reductions, finance and technology transfer.

However, they hoped that the week would turn the game around as it happened in Bali two years ago, where an action plan was agreed within three hours.

Attempts are being made to resume negotiations on changes proposed in the Kyoto Protocol by least developed nations and developed world. After informals last night, it has not worked. Talks on important issues are held up.

The association of island nations have moved a proposal for adoption in Copenhagen, which says the world should not allow the temperature to increase by more than 1.5 degree Celsuis. It also calls for quantified emission reductions, much higher in order than in Kyoto for rich countries.

The proposal also seeks an arrangement that under a new protocol, which allows even developing countries to take emission cuts. Interestingly, the proposal is quite similar to the one floated by Tuvalu on Wednesday, except that it wants Kyoto to continue.

The least developed nations led by Africian block is expected to submit its proposal in the evening for the Copenhagen agreement seeking quote in CDM and finance from rich countries. However, it wants the existing Kyoto Protocol to continue without many changes.

Day 4

The day began on a optimistic note with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon asserting that though the Danish draft had created a wedge between the rich and the poor nations but the negotiations will not suffer. He clearly said that any new agreement should be reached under the framework of Kyoto Protocol.

1. Sweden pledged 800 million euros for the Climate Fund that according to the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown should have at least 10 billion dollars.

2. For the first time India and China asked the rich countries to reduce emissions by 40 per cent to cap the temperature increase rise to less than two degree Celsius at pre-industrial level by 2050.

3. African block and small Island nations said they would bring their own proposals for adoption on the final day. Already the developed countries with the help of Denmark have prepared their own proposal. Brazil, South Africa, India and China have prepared their own demand (BASIC Draft).

4. Small island nations distanced itself from Tuvalu, an island nation in Pacific, proposal that calls for a separate protocol saying it was of an individual country. Small island nations' spokesperson said they want an agreement under Kyoto Protocol, which maintain different obligations for the rich and the developing world.

5. Negotiations on the future of Kyoto Protocol broke down with countries failing to arrive at consensus on which amendments to the protocol should be considered.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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