Business Times 3 Dec 07;
(JAKARTA) Senior officials from the developing countries grouped under G-77 will propose setting up an adaptation fund mechanism that is transparent, accountable and easy to access, officials said in Bali.
The agreement on this was reached last Friday during a meeting ahead of today's UN Bali climate conference, the Jakarta Post daily reported on Saturday.
The officials also agreed on the principles of the fund mechanism and the formation of a two-layer management system, which comprises a governing body and a day-to-day management body.
Adaptation is one of the core issues to be discussed at the conference, besides mitigation, transfer of technology from developed to developing countries, and a financing scheme to curb the impacts of climate change.
Aree Wattana Tummakiri of Thailand said that the flexibility and accountability of the institution as well as access to the fund for developing countries were all that the G-77 members are demanding in the fund's management.
'We will establish a governing body, which consist of parties to the protocol, because we want to have a pro-developing countries institution to manage the fund. Currently, we have difficulties accessing the money and an explanation on how the fund is managed,' she said.
The Kyoto Protocol has ruled that the adaptation fund will be raised from a 2 per cent levy deducted from carbon credits given to the private sector both in developing and developed countries through clean development mechanism (CDM) projects.
The current size of the fund is estimated at US$100 million per year, but is expected to reach billions as the value of CDM projects increases.
According to the Climate Action Network, a group of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), developing countries need at least US$50 billion per year to adapt to the impact of climate change.
Currently, the fund is managed by Global Environment Facility (GEF), a multilateral environmental financing mechanism set up under a 1994 international agreement, which is currently the only institution handling financial matters for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other environmental agreements. -- Xinhua
