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Africa Challenged to secure better deal from Developed Countries at Climate Conference

By on November 28, 2012

 

As the Global Conference on Climate change commenced on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar, Africa  and other developing countries have been urged to make a strong case for a better deal in terms of sustainable development.

Dr Victor Fodeke, an adviser on climate change to the African Union, stressed how crucial it is for the African negotiators to ensure that this year’s conference brings the Developed countries to the level of fulfilling their commitment and pledges to the developing countries as part of the Kyoto Protocol agreement.

The BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) ministers of environment, last week had a pre-conference meeting  to strategize how to mobilize a strong pressure group that will emphasize the necessity for the leading economies of the globe to honour their pledges as contained in the ratifications for global sustainable development.
 The ministers in a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the 13th Basic Ministerial meeting on Climate Change, last week, reaffirmed that the Kyoto Protocol remains a key component of the international climate order and that its second commitment period (2CP), which begins next January should make positive impact on humanity.
They said it was important to have an effective and legally binding second commitment period through a rectifiable amendment of the Kyoto Protocol’s Annex B, which sets out the emission cuts for developed nations known as Annex 1 Parties for the second commitment period that would be implemented from next January.

Developed country Parties that do not commit to QELROs in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the ministers said “should undertake quantified emission reduction commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that are comparable in terms of form, magnitude and compliance.”

They said developed countries that are not Parties to the Kyoto Protocol or do not participate in its second commitment period would not benefit from the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol.

The conference which ends on the 6th of December with delegates from 194 countries attending, could see a more strategic roadmap for a stable climate if the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) including Africa stand their ground on the negotiations ensuring that Developed countries do not take advantage of them.

Speaking in an interview  ahead of the conference monitored by USA today Jean Pascal Ypersele the vice-chairman on the inter-governmental panel on climate change asserted “The new question should probably progressively become: Is it possible that climate warming has not influenced this particular event?”. This quote was made in relation to the devastating effect of Hurricane sandy and the need for real action to be taken on Global warming during the conference.