COP-19,WARSAW CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE-NOV 2013

COP-19, WARSAW CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

Guest article by Dr.Karthick,Tutor in Paediatrics,Dept of Paediatrics,Govt.Dharmapuri Medical College and Hospital.

COP 19, one more on the lines of progressive talks planned for collective action against the climate change ,which has been going on for the past two decades, was held in the phoenix city of warsaw. The main goal of COP 19 was to arrive at a constructive pause of the discussions, paving way for the Global Treaty on Climate Change to be signed at the crunch meeting in paris in 2015.The global agreement will be in effect after 2020.But before such an agreement can be signed, many conflicting issues are to be addressed and different blocks of countries are to be arrived for a satisfactory consensus.

To understand the issues clearly, it is needed to compare the reasons of climate change and the economic advantages and prices for different sections of the world. Climate Change in itself is not a newer concept but the causes and intensity of this present change is significantly newer. In the past, the factors responsible for climate change were Changes in the earth’s orbit, Sun Cycle, and Volcanic activity.But the present climate change is due to human activities like deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, synthetic fertilisers and animal farming on industrial scale. The causes are significant in the sense that it clearly differentiates the offenders and the victims and shows way for the victims to claim compensation from the benefitted sections of the world.

The developed countries ,like minded developing countries, small island nations, least developed countries are the different sections ,whose collective satisfaction alone can lead to a successful global treaty. But different sections have different claims and aspirations ,apart from the blame game towards each other, making the effective agreement’s process difficult. The stand by the developed countries is that their historical responsibility for climate change is no excuse for a common binding agreement for all and the concept of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ enshrined in the UNFCCC needs a change.

In this line, the modern talks were processed mostly to deviate the actions out of UNFCCC’s original principles and the non binding commitments  for developing countries set by KYOTO protocol. Even before Kyoto came into existence, the United States passéd the Byrd-Hagel resolution ,stating that it would not ratify any agreement, where the developing countries who were its economic competitors, were immune to binding commitments. These modern talks mainly started with Bali roadmap and ending with the Copenhagen Accord, the very next year. The accord was significant in one sense that it set newer path ,which mainly was intentional by the developed countries to take the focus away from UNFCCC’s original principles and making common binding commitments.

Like Minded Developing Countries, on the other hand are not ready for binding commitments and are always looking for the equitable sharing of responsibilities and advantages. It needs compensation from the earlier industrialised countries who reaped the economic benefits and also carbon space for their growing economies, especially the fossil rich china and india. They claim the equitable share in the carbon budget which is about 1000 Giga tonnes of carbon dioxide, if co2 alone is taken.

Despite these varied interests, Warshaw talks began with the aims of

*Effective implementation of previous COP decisions,

*Building of confidence in the process,

*Making progress on the way to new global agreement in 2015.

The results achieved were,

*Intended nationally determined contributions—This has come as a compromise for the original demand by developed countries for a clear timetable stating the commitments by all countries before the first quarter of 2015,and assessment by a transparent mechanism of their targets. But the developing countries opposed for an oversight by International agency and settled with their acceptance of ‘self determined contributions’.

*The key agenda in the conference was regarding ‘Loss and Damage’ involving some emotional speeches from the victim countries who were affected by the extreme weather events. The developed countries did not accept any liability to compensate for such disasters. But they settled with the setting up of ‘Warshaw International Mechanism’ which favours for the aid to the developing  countries by the developed countries to cope with losses from extreme weather events.

*The next issue of financial assistance was an important matter to encompass every successful move. It was originally decided in Copenhagen to commit $100bn per annum from the developed countries by 2020 ,to help developing countries adapt to the climate change through technology. But the mid term financial issues were not addressed, leaving 2012 to 2020 in vaccum. Also the Green Climate Fund which was accepted to be set up after 2009 was recognised to be operationalised but not capitalised. So,the aim of warshaw conference in building the confidence ,failed.

*The supportive talks in the COP19,which were accepted commonly by everyone was regarding agriculture. It was to keep agriculture away from the agreements and focussing mainly on the fossil fuels, keeping in mind the livelihoods of majority population in developing countries.

*REDD+ ,an initiative to use market and financial incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation gained some positives in the warshaw conference, with the countries pledging $100 mn to the adaptation fund. Coalition of Rainforest countries which was formed due to the neglect of forest conservation in Kyoto was instrumental in taking forward REDD+ from Bali Action Plan to Warshaw.

So,it can be said the three original aims of implementing past decisions, confidence building and making progress for next global treaty were all partly discussed with compromises, not arriving at any linear and conclusive decision .It hangs to hit the next geographical location of peru, next year with more expectations from the climate enthusiasts..