Climate conference ends with little progress

Vimukthi Fernando

The 12th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP12-UNFCCC) and the second Meeting of Parties (MOP) of the Kyoto Protocol concluded on Friday.

The high level segments of the conference started with three issues to be discussed. An adaptation fund for developing countries which help them adapt to the effects of climate change, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and the review of Kyoto Protocol were the three main issues that were awaiting decisions at the COP/MOP in Nairobi.

The conference had two objectives, to address some concerns of the developing countries and to look at the future beyond the period of the Kyoto Protocol, said Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC Executive Secretary.

He said that progress was made in the part of assisting the developing countries. The COP/MOP concluded with agreeing on a mechanism to provide financial support for the developing countries for adaptation activities in the form of an Adaptation Fund under the Kyoto Protocol. The fund will get its money through CDM which generates funds through Certified Emission Reductions (CERs).

The Adaptation Fund will be established with a two percent levy from the CERs so traded between countries. The fund currently stands at USD three million and is estimated to grow to USD 300 m, by 2012 the cut off year for the Kyoto Protocol.

Parties welcomed the "Nairobi Framework" announced by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, to support developing countries to successfully develop projects for the CDM. The Nairobi Framework focuses primarily on African countries.

Rules were finalised for the Special Climate Change Fund, designed to finance projects in developing countries to finance adaptation, technology transfer, climate change mitigation and economic diversification for countries highly dependent on income from fossil fuel. It also adopted procedural measures to operationalise Kyoto Protocol's Compliance Committee.

Industrialised countries agreed to new-commitments for post 2012 - under the Kyoto Protocol. "The 166 parties to the Kyoto Protocol heard in Nairobi that global emissions of greenhouse gasses have to be reduced to very low levels, well below half of levels in 2000, to avoid dangerous climate change," said Boer.

However, climate activists and environmentalists claimed that the Nairobi talks "failed to respond to the urgency of climate change," due to "political inertia". Christian Aid, a UK based non-governmental organisation in a press release said that "the final declaration from Nairobi leaves millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people in limbo and is a frighteningly timid response to a significant global problem." Friends of the Earth, WWF, Oxfam and Climate Action Network claimed Nairobi's progress was too little compared to the problem at hand. "While progress was made in Nairobi, our leaders must recognise that scientific evidence and public opinion demands much stronger action than what was agreed," said Hans Verolme, Director, WWF Climate Change Programme. Nairobi.