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