Asian Declarations and climate change: responses of the green lobby

Welcome boost before Bali talks on climate change
Three declarations show Asia has collective will to tackle the problem
Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 24 Nov 07;

There has to be rigorous follow-up. It shouldn't happen that these documents have been signed and remain unattended for quite some time, and then at the next summit they start reviewing things and find that nothing much has happened.

A COLLECTIVE pledge - in the form of three declarations this week in Singapore - came as a welcome boost less than two weeks ahead of a crucial global meeting on climate change in Bali.

Together, the documents represented Asia's collective stand to act on climate change, and to try and curb their emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

The third - the Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment - was perhaps the most significant, since its 16 signatories include mega-emitters India and China. Both have long resisted shouldering responsibility for the problem.

The other two documents were endorsed by Asean leaders.

All three represent yet another battle won for the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr Rajendra Pachauri. He leads a pack of Nobel Prize-winning scientists who, for years, have been trying to convince leaders that climate change is real, the situation dire and the need to act imperative.

'The fact is that Asia is vulnerable, and there is a whole range of climate change impacts that the region has to worry about.

'These are clearly indications of concern among the governments. If they have spent so much time discussing and have come to these declarations, I would say there is adequate political will to follow through with them,' the climate change guru told The Straits Times.

What was also positive, he noted, was the support expressed for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Kyoto Protocol, which requires 36 industrial countries to reduce carbon emissions by an average of 5 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012.

In Bali, world leaders will be looking at ways to put in place a new global plan by 2009 to ensure a smooth transition when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

Asia has clearly acknowledged that it has a role to play even while insisting that developed countries should take the lead in cutting down on emissions, Dr Pachauri said.

The region's collective stand this week is also a recognition of the fact that Asian nations would be better off working together than going in alone.

Dr Pachauri said that for Asia, such declarations were better off emphasising collaboration than commitments, dismissing criticism of the lack of specific goals or a 'great deal of detail'.

Critics, such as Mr Rafael Senga of the global conservation group WWF, said that the Singapore Declaration fell short of the region's ambitions.

They pointed to the fact that India, for example, had shot down the idea to include a specific 'aspirational goal' of making energy work more efficiently by shaving 25 per cent off energy intensity.

'Major players in the region, like China and India, should show leadership in crafting a global consensus towards concrete targets and decisive action,' Mr Senga was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

Dr Pachauri however retorted that the numbers game should not kick in now. Formulating action was currently more important.

'This is not the right forum for them to be declaring targets. Officials will have to pore over what's possible, the cost and the financing,' he said.

What is crucial, he added, is that follow-up action comes soon.

This is especially so since the meetings in Bali only kick-start the process to find Kyoto's successor, and much can be done between now and the time it expires in 2012.

He said: 'There has to be rigorous follow-up. It shouldn't happen that these documents have been signed and remain unattended for quite some time, and then at the next summit they start reviewing things and find that nothing much has happened.'

Green Lobby

SHOW OF SOLIDARITY

'The declarations are a show of solidarity. The region is going to pay a heavy cost for climate change and it's a high priority for them. But while Asean seems to have got its act together, I'm not sure if that is true for the rest. There are countries still worried about the impact on their economies, and they are coming to Bali in a fairly distracted state. Hopefully they can go beyond that because we are talking about planetary and millennial issues, and not just next year's GDP.'
FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME ASHOK KHOSLA

CLIMATE MILESTONE

'What we should be applauding is that for the first time, there is more solidarity among Asean members than in the past, and we have zeroed in on environmental issues, not singular issues like the haze. That is a milestone.

It is right to say it lacks solid targets... It has no teeth, but perhaps that can come as a follow up. This should give birth to many more rounds involving specialists, technical groups and, most importantly. the private sector.'
SINGAPORE ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HOWARD SHAW

ASPIRATION NOT ENOUGH

'We welcome the Summit's commitment to the UNFCCC process and the Kyoto Protocol as well as the Summit's aim to ensure that the Bali talks will result in an effective, comprehensive and equitable post-2012 international climate change arrangement. Beyond these two facets, the declaration appears to be reheated rhetoric. It recognises the danger posed to Asia by climate change and yet it endorses mere aspirational goals, which commit countries to do nothing in particular by no particular time, if they feel like it. Aspiration is not a strategy and voluntary goals cannot save the climate.'
GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGNER RED CONSTANTINO

NEED FOR TARGETS

'While Asean countries committed to 'stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations in the long run' and to a 'long-term aspirational emissions reduction goal', this is an inadequate starting point for Bali... While long-term goals are important, they will be impossible to reach without short-term targets and indicative parameters for the next five, 10 and 15 years. Asean was a missed opportunity to outline such parameters.'
OXFAM GREAT BRITAIN'S CLIMATE CHANGE SENIOR ADVISER ANTONIO HILL