Singapore reports: 'Focusing on wrong things' could derail climate talks

Leave tough task of setting emissions goals to later stage of negotiations, says UN official
Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 3 Dec 07;

BALI - THE climate talks that kick off in Bali today could run a risk of failure if delegates focus on the 'wrong things at the wrong time'.

That was the warning from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Yvo de Boer.

He said zooming in on the contentious issue of legally binding greenhouse gas emissions targets early in the game could scuttle chances for a road map to the next global climate change agreement.

'It is a critical question, but a question that I, personally, would come to at the end of the discussion rather than at the beginning,' he told a news conference yesterday,

By yesterday evening, more than 10,000 delegates from close to 190 countries had arrived in closely guarded Nusa Dua. The number of delegates is expected to double over the next two weeks.

In that time, the delegates will try to kickstart negotiations for an international agreement to cut down on the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

A framework should be found by 2009 so that it can be ratified by various countries and kick in after 2012, when the first 'commitment period' of the current global emissions pact - the Kyoto Protocol - ends.

The 1997 Kyoto pact requires 36 industrialised nations to cut their emissions by 5 per cent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012.

But that is just a fraction of the reduction that scientists say is needed.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last month 'unequivocally' warned of the 'abrupt or irreversible' impact of climate change.

The IPCC scientists say that if drastic climate change is to be avoided, global emissions cannot continue rising for more than the next 15 to 20 years, and must then be slashed to half of their current levels by the middle of this century.

Still, the 'toolbox' first needs to be filled with 'instruments' enabling the international community to work together before it can be determined how ambitious countries can be, and how much it will cost, said Mr de Boer.

Finding that common ground needs to take precedence, he added, because the world is already witnessing increased frequency of cyclones and killer heatwaves.

The world is also watching for a political response to scientists' dire warnings that worse is to come.

Based on initial interactions, the mood among delegates was 'optimistic', and many - including those from the United States - were sure that 2009 was an achievable target for the framework, a member of the 30-strong Singapore delegation told The Straits Times.

190 nations to meet in Bali over spectre of global warming
Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 3 Dec 07;

WHAT IT IS

REPRESENTATIVES of more than 190 countries start meetings today to discuss how best to combat global warming at the United Nations Climate Change conference in Bali, Indonesia. The conference will run until Dec 14.

Along the way, it is hoped that a road map for a new international climate-change agreement will be found.

The meetings will include high-level leaders not just on the environment, but on trade and finance as well.

Following a week of discussions about the most salient issues, trade ministers will come together in a dialogue on Saturday and Sunday.

Then, finance ministers will gather the following Monday and Tuesday to look at investments and funding for low-carbon technologies, among other things.

The final, and most crucial part of the meetings, will be the 'high-level' segment, which will be officially opened on Wednesday next week. That is when the talks will culminate in a global response to the grim and 'unequivocal' warnings by scientists that the Earth could face 'abrupt or irreversible' impact of climate change.

WHY IT MATTERS

Scientists say the world must act now to limit increases in surface temperature to under 2 deg C above its pre-industrial-age level by 2015. For that to happen, global greenhouse gas emissions have to be halved by 2050.

If all goes well, the climate conference will lay down a path for negotiations leading to a new global emissions agreement that can kick off in 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the current binding global pact on emissions for developed countries, ends.

At the Bali talks, Singapore will field a delegation of about 30 representatives of the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Water Resources, Trade and Industry, and Finance ministries.