YOUR DAILY GUIDE TO COP18
DAY 7 – 3RD NOVEMBER
WWW.CLIMATEJUSTICEONLINE.ORG
Negotiations update:
The first week of the negotiations concluded with no
real drama but also no real momentum compared with
the last few COPs. One of the key elements for Doha is
the closure of the Long Term Cooperative Action under
the Convention Track (the LCA). It has not been decided
yet if the issues it covers (enhanced action on cutting
carbon emissions, adaptation, transfer of technology to
developing countries, finance, etc) will be transferred to
the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) or to
other bodies. A new LCA text has just been released.
One of the key issues for the arrival of climate change
ministers from around the world later this week will be
to secure climate finance and agree on common
accounting standards for developed countries.
There is a strong commitment of the EU to see a 2nd
commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol as a bridge to
a rule-based system for the ADP which will kick in by
2020. Still, critical issues remain. First, about the length
of the period (five or eight years). Second, the targets
and how ambitious they will be in the pre-2020 period.
There is a great desire of most EU members and civil
society to move the current pledge from 20% to 30%
cuts in emissions but given the Polish opposition to it,
there has been a lot of discussion on how this could be
achieved. Related to this discussion is the carry-over of
surplus AAUs (carbon credits) which were not used
during the global recession. It’s still unclear if Parties
will agree to eliminate or even restrict the use of AAUs.
The legal second commitment period of the KP (KP –II)
is still under discussion: it should be important to avoid
a gap between periods; hence developing countries are
pushing for a provisional application pending entry into
force from1 January 2013.
On the ADP negotiations, the co-chairs produced a
summary on Sunday which provides a good start, but
they need to include a clear process moving forward.
Many parties have called for an effective and ambitious
outcome in 2015 under the ADP. And to deliver this
vision Parties need to start a work programme and
make clear progress towards sharing the global effort to
address climate change and how this will be done.
On the subject of money for developing countries to
tackle climate change, the discussion has moved from
short term Fast Start Finance, which is ending, and long
term finance (for 2020), the focus is now on mid-term
finance for the period between 2013-2015. The figure
suggested so far is around 60 billion USD for this period.
Deliver climate finance:
Zero Dollars? No thanks!
As negotiations about finance start, Time for Climate
Justice Campaigners from ACT Alliance and Pan African
Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) joined forces last Friday
to urgently call rich countries to deliver climate Finance.
Symbolising rich countries versus poor communities,
campaigners held a giant dollar bill and a “deliver
climate finance” banner. They also distributed
Time for Climate Justice is a global movement led by ACT Alliance members, working closely with the World
Council of Churches and partners in the Global North and South. Take Action:create a message telling world
leaders what your ideal world look like at www.climatejusticeonline.org or visit the Ideal World 2030 Exhibit
campaign cards for delegates arriving in the morning. In
2012 fast start finance comes to an end and there is a
lot of uncertainty about what will happen next. The
Green Climate fund which was established to channel
money for the poorest countries to adapt and develop
in a low carbon way remains largely empty. Rich
countries must fulfill their promises to deliver new and
additional (beyond aid) money reaching one hundred
billion dollars a year by 2020.
Climate finance is increasingly needed as the climate
crisis worsens. If we are to stay below a warming of two
degrees Celsius, as science says we must to avoid
catastrophic climate change, carbon cuts are urgently
needed. However it will be extremely difficult for poor
countries to contribute to the global cuts needed
without financial help to achieve a low carbon future.
We hope to see more action on this issue in Doha this
week.
The 1st ever climate march in Qatar
Campaign efforts to pressure world leaders to ACT on
climate change are not only happening in the corridors
of the UN climate talks venue in Qatar. This Saturday
campaigners marched peacefully in the streets of Qatar
to demand climate justice. The march, organised by
Arab climate activists, was the 1st one ever held in the
country.
Why is climate change a priority for ACT Alliance and
what are the streams of work?
ACT is an alliance of churches and related organisation
who believe we have a responsibility to take care of
God’s creation. Mankind, the environment everything.
The whole world realised climate change has created
very negative and devastating effects for poor
communities especially in developing countries. ACT
works with people to eradicate poverty or reduce levels
of poverty but also to address systems that perpetuate
levels of poverty for the people. We see the
communities we work with and they are in worse off
situations with climate change effects… we have an
obligation to address climate change, that’s why we are
there, this is not something we “choose” that we want
to do.
How’s ACT Alliance working in Doha?
A meet with ACT Alliance
John Nduna
General Secretary
ACT Alliance
There are three issues we are prioritising: First, how
communities we work with adapt to climate change. All
issues related to adaptation, ensuring people can
survive and live meaningful lives. ACT members have
programmes at the local level doing adaptation. We
need to have proper finance to have meaningful
programmes that are sustainable for the people. This is
an issue we have been raising in all COPs: Copenhagen,
Cancun, Durban and here in Durban.
Time for Climate Justice is a global movement led by ACT Alliance members, working closely with the World
Council of Churches and partners in the Global North and South. Take Action:create a message telling world
leaders what your ideal world look like at www.climatejusticeonline.org or visit the Ideal World 2030 Exhibit
Secondly, the problem of carbon emissions also
continues. Are we looking at the root cause of the
problem? We need clean development. Western
developed countries: what can they do to reduce their
emissions. We have been advocating very strongly for
this. The Kyoto Protocol is important for the reduction
of emissions. We need a binding agreement for
countries to comply. The 2nd commitment period of
the KP is key. Countries have to agree to targets. That’s
where the EU becomes crucial. We have the big
emitters like China, US, Canada and Australia not
playing their part, so it is about advocating for countries
to be responsible.
The third one is on financing: there we talk about
mitigation and adaptation, but we need to transfer
new, clean technology to the developing world so they
can follow the pathway of sustainable development in a
way that will serve the environment. There is need to
finance adaption programmes. We haven’t seen much
commitment from developed countriues up to now,
there is no new money. So the whole issue for the Bali
agreement and the LCA track that is coming to an end is
how do we move the ADP without losing anything in
the transition. That’s what we have been advocating
for. We do not expect miracles on the way. As we go
towards 2015 to make these goals achievable, we
would like to see the process leading to some very
concrete steps. Hopefully we will have a comprehensive
legally binding agreement. Our weight as ACT alliance
comes from the information we get form local partners,
what is happening on the ground. And if you look at the
representation we have a big representation from over
the world. This strengthens our message.
Capacity building is critical for us. We have to help,
ensure local members have enhanced capacity to speak
on the issue of climate change and also know how to
address the problem. For ACT, as we move in 2013, we
are looking on how to increase capacity.
are not here to evangelise, but our faith is strong to
help tackle these issues. This is something for everyone.
Looking forward
Side Event: Peoples' Voices In Policy Choices: A Low Carbon
vision for sustainable India
The side event will aim to reflect on low carbon scenarios for
India based on the concept of a threshold level of ‘well being’
for every citizen of India derived from a perspective of the
right to development and equitable access to carbon
equivalent space .
Speakers:
Dr.NafisaGogaD'Souza,Laya, India
Mr.T.S. Panwar, WWF India ,
Mr.Kartikeya Sarabhai, CEE,India;
Representatives of IRADe,India;
Representative of Bread for the World, Germany
Side event: Climate Action and Advocacy in the South: Civil
society activist share achievements and challenges:
As results from international climate negotiations have a
distant horizon, civil society push governments to take
domestic action to increase resilience and protect the
vulnerable against the effects of climate change.
Achievements and challenges from around the globe are
shared in this side-event.
Speakers:
Peter With, Care Danmark,
Vitumbiko Chinoko, Christian Aid and CISONECC, Malawi
Henriette Imelda, CAN Indonesia
Ben Namikin, CAN Kiribati
GarbaTahirouIssa, African Youth Initiative on Climate Change
Mónica Lopes Baltodano, Sustainability Watch, Central
America
Faith community and climate change
The faith aspect is very important. As a Christian
alliance we believe that our values as Christians are
values of love, honesty, commitment. Values of
trust.Some of thee things are what is missing in the
negotiations. We bring these values very strongly. We
Time for Climate Justice is a global movement led by ACT Alliance members, working closely with the World
Council of Churches and partners in the Global North and South. Take Action:create a message telling world
leaders what your ideal world look like at www.climatejusticeonline.org or visit the Ideal World 2030 Exhibit