What the Ministers should be DOING
Hi all, I'd like to share with you this excellent article by Steve, the head of the GP delegation on where we are here in Nairobi and what the ministers should be doing...
Climate politics and climate reality: Closing the Gap
ECO welcome you, Ministers, to Nairobi and to the COP and COP/MOP – you’ve
arrived just in time.
We need you to close the gap between the urgent calls from around the world for
action on climate change, and the level of ambition demonstrated so far here in
Nairobi.
Indeed, there is work to be done. As you know from the avalanche of press
reports on the changing climate and the rising tide of public concern, pressure
for hard action is growing by the day. Since Montreal much has happened, but
even more remains to be done. There is much on your agenda here, but ECO would
like to direct your attention to one key issue which we think is critical to
the success of this COP and COP/MOP, and to the future of efforts to prevent
dangerous interference with the climate system.
MIND THE GAP – WE NEED A MANDATE AT COPMOP 3!
We particularly need you to ensure that this process responds to the increasing
alarm we are hearing from scientists around the world. The gorilla sitting in
the middle of your table that many do not want to acknowledge is the need to
establish a time bound process to negotiate the second commitment period of the
Kyoto Protocol. You need to lay the political ground work amongst your
colleagues here for a COP/MOP3 decision in 2007 on a broad negotiating mandate,
to be concluded by 2008. We all know that this is not formally on the agenda
here in Nairobi, but this is certainly the last COP/MOP where it is possible to
NOT adopt a comprehensive mandate for these negotiations, and still have a
chance of finishing in time so that there is no gap between the first and
second commitment periods. At COP/MOP3, many processes conclude, and should
logically come together to create that mandate. These include: the tropical
deforestation issue, discussions under the UNFCCC Dialogue and the workplan
under the AWG on Annex I commitments.
PLEASE. Make it clear in your speeches and meetings that you understand the
urgency. Call for a mandate to be agreed at COPMOP3.
The main outstanding issue here relevant to this is a decision on the first
review under Article 9 of the Kyoto Protocol, which is required to be done at
this COP/MOP. Part of the text we have seen is, let us be frank, a shame on
this process. A perfunctory first review, with virtually no preparation, does
no credit to anyone and belittles the seriousness of this issue. Leaving this
aside, the current chairman’s text, which calls for the second review be done
at COP/MOP4 in 2008, with no real preparatory work bodes ill for the adoption
of a Mandate in 2007 at COP/MOP3. Will not the 2008 time line be used as an
excuse not to adopt a Mandate at COP/MOP3? Or is this the real purpose of such
a timetable? Such a timeframe would in our view foreclose any chance of
completing the Kyoto Second Commitment period negotiations so that commitment
periods can be contiguous. If that does not happen you can kiss the carbon
markets goodbye. Ministers, you need to fix this.
At the first Climate COP in Africa, the epicenter of vulnerability to human
induced climate change, there was and is a special need to send a signal that
the world is getting serious about dealing with the escalating costs of
adaptation. Damages from climate change are going to be large, particularly in
Africa, even if we are successful in limiting warming below 2oC increase in
comparison to pre-industrial levels. While there have been some small steps
forward here in addressing this issue, the gap between that and what is needed
is enormous. You need to start to close the gap.