Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The Tenth Conference of the Parties (COP-10) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) over-ran by a day as delegates sought to reach agreement on the format of future negotiations regarding what happens after the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. A compromise was eventually reached between the United States and Europe, containing a commitment to a single meeting in May 2005. The United States had opposed European plans for a series of informal meetings. "It is a give-and-take exercise and I think on balance we are very pleased with the outcome," said Harlan Watson of the United States State Department. During the closing session, India, with support from China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, called for a guarantee that developing nations would not have to accept emission cuts. But the European Union rejected the demand and the compromise agreement stood.

Throughout the meeting, developing countries argued for stronger commitments on assistance to avert the consequences of climate change. The Africa Group emphasized the urgency of adaptation and stressed the importance of operationalizing the Special Climate Change Fund. They want funding not only for research but also for the implementation of adaptation measures. Alberto Cárdenas Jiménez, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, Mexico, argued that the lack of action on adaptation limits the economic ability of developing countries to achieve sustainable development. He said that the issue has been addressed in a fragmented manner under the climate treaty and supported an Argentinian proposal for an adaptation work programme. COP-10 was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, December 6-18th 2004.

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A Pew Center initiative, aimed at bringing the United States into a post-Kyoto agreement with major emitters from the developing world, held its latest round of discussions alongside COP-10 in Buenos Aires. "The rejection by the United States really set off the search for better ways of doing things," said Michael Zammit Cutajar, former Executive Secretary of the climate treaty secretariat, "What seems to be taking shape is a series of feasible options that respond to different economic and political circumstances." The idea is a 'variable geometry' for emissions control post-2012 that would permit approaches to vary from one country to another.

"Kyoto is a start, but ahead lies a far greater challenge: engaging all the world’s major emitters in a long-term approach that fairly and effectively mobilizes the technology and resources needed to protect the global climate," according to Pew Center President Eileen Claussen. The approaches under consideration include methods that would link emissions targets to economic growth or focus targets on specific activities and economic sectors. National targets may represent purely financial commitments, for example, to cover the costs of emissions controls elsewhere. Gao Feng, of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, favours a "bottom-up approach" with each country determining for itself "what might be technically, economically, socially and politically acceptable." Bill Hare, from Greenpeace, was sceptical, saying that "bottom-up is a euphemism for not doing much at all beyond what would normally happen."

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A British government report on climate science in Africa concludes that, despite the vulnerability of the continent to climate variability, "there is a sense that climate is only marginally entering into development planning, and that societal resilience is not improving." The Africa Climate Report suggests a set of "options for collective action," including strengthening research capacity, the creation of a regional climate centre, a training fund for African climatologists and a research programme on climate and sustainable development.

Declan Conway of the University of East Anglia, one of the report's authors, believes that solutions to the threat posed by climate change cannot be imposed by the international community. "The answers will come from Africa," he says. Assessment of vulnerability is, he argues, a priority as a basis for "trying to improve the capacity to prepare and cope." The United Kingdom's priorities for its G8 presidency during 2005 are climate change and Africa.

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