DOHA:
The absence of a commitment by rich industrialised countries to give any firm commitment
on climate finance and increase their efforts to reduce emissions reduction by
industrialised countries for the pre-2020 period continues to cast its shadow
over the negotiations at Doha."The governors of New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut have asked nearly $83 billion from Washington (in the wake of
superstorm Sandy) not in a year but in one stroke. Tell me then are we asking
for lot money when talking about $100 billion,"
asked Ronny Jumeau, a senior negotiator from Seychelles.
Representatives
from nearly 200 countries at Doha are in the second week of their efforts to
build consensus over details of a global response to climate change. Their big
task is to bring to a successful close the ongoing negotiations as set out in
the road map agreed to in Bali in 2007 and to agree on the second phase of the
1997 Kyoto Protocol. This would enable countries to move on to negotiating the
post 2020 global regime to limit the adverse impact of climate change.
The
availability of finance between 2013 and 2020 is one of the key issues that needs to be resolved before countries leave Doha. The fast
start finance committed by developed countries at Copenhagen in 2009 was for a
three-year period ending 2012. Without adequate funds, it would be difficult
for developing countries, particularly vulnerable and least developed
countries, to deal with climate change. So far, the industrialised countries
have been less than forthcoming, with the sole exception of the United Kingdom.
"The
current discussions on finance commit us to look at the 2020 figure of $100
billion. The industrialised countries gave a good faith down payment of $30
billion as fast start finance. We have done more than that," said Jonathan
Pershing , deputy special envoy for climate change for the United States. The
EU has said that it "find money for climate
finance in the interim period" but that there would be "no
announcement of a single funding by the EU-27".
The
lack of clarity on finance doesn't help bridge the trust deficit between
developed and developing countries hampering the possibility of a successful
outcome at Doha. "We agreed in Cancun to fast start finance and there
would be $100bn for 2020. This is our interpretation. We want to see finance on
the table before we leave here. It's part of a package
that we're expecting in Doha," Pa Ousman Jorju, chair of the least
developed countries said.
The
developing country bloc, G-77 and China, comprising 132 countries have asked
for $60 billion between 203 and 2015. Industrialised countries are loathe to commit. Instead, they argue that the commitment
was to provide $30 billion between 200n and 2012, then $100 billion a year by
2020, and that there has been nothing about the period in between.
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