Conference agrees to combat climate change

Conference agrees to combat climate change

Stevie Emilia, The Jakarta Post, Milan, Italy

Some 95 ministers agreed to coordinate action against climate
change, moving forward on making the final building blocks of the
climate change treaty despite Russia's wait-and-see attitude
toward ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.

At the 9th Conference of Parties of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, the ministers and heads
of delegations adopted some two dozen legal decisions and
explored a wide range of options for limiting greenhouse gas
emissions, adapting to the impacts of climate change as well as
preparing further actions by national governments, civil society
and the private sector to prepare for the entry of the treaty,
the Kyoto Protocol, into force.

The 12-day conference's ultimate success was in making the
carbon trade mechanism operational, with first projects expected
to be registered early next year as well as some developed
countries -- The European Union, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand,
Norway and Switzerland -- renewing their pledge to contribute
US$410 million annually to developing countries through these
funds and other avenues.

According to conference president Miklos Persanyi, discussions
during the 12-day conference were difficult but constructive
success has been reached despite Russia's apprehension about
ratifying the treaty

"Ministers and heads of delegations agree at this conference
that climate change poses a real challenge to humanity and they
indicate they will welcome the speedy entry of the treaty into
force," he said.

The upcoming conference is set to take place in Buenos Aires
in December next year.

Head of Indonesian delegation Liana Bratasida, Deputy Minister
for the Preservation of the Environment, welcomed the
conference's result, saying it has taken more important decisions
than the previous one in Delhi.

"The conference shows that the commitment and the political
will to deal with climate change-related disasters are there,"
she said.

Although carbon emission trade is now fully operational, Liana
said a few little details were still missing on the scheme, like
implementation details on land use, land use change and forestry.

She said the conference so far had agreed on the definition
for such projects as well as provided general guidelines, but it
still could not be operational.

"We have no experience in conducting such projects so we need
detailed implementation guidelines, not general ones," Liana
said.

Under the scheme, developed countries, high greenhouse gas
emitters, can meet their emission targets by organizing forestry
or clean energy projects in developing countries.

A delegation member, the Minister of Forestry's senior advisor
on partnership, Sunaryo, expressed regrets about the missing
details.

"I hoped at this conference, we could reach agreement on land
use, land use change and forestry and that such projects could be
fully operational," said Sunaryo.

Some environment groups decried such forestry projects,
fearing it might turn into a commercial project that sacrifices
the environment in the process.

"It's true that from the land owner's side it's all about
money, but if it's for reforestation work, it's not only about
money but also about cutting down carbon emission which is good
for the environment. People can say it's all about money but once
it is operational, there will be guidelines and strict control,"
Sunaryo said.

"Once Indonesia ratifies Kyoto, we can benefit from this
emission trade and I think it's not only us hoping the conference
will make the forestry project under the carbon emission trade
fully operational, even developed countries have to meet their
emission targets by 2008," he said, adding that such a project is
cheaper than having to use or create clean technology that is
costly and takes time to produce significant results.

Developed countries have to meet their emission targets as
required by the treaty during the first commitment period between
2008-2012.

The conference also progressed in developing the carbon
emission trade afforestration and reforestation guidelines that
are expected to provide a sound and credible foundation for
projects, as well as the common reporting format and the good
practice guidance which is hoped to launch an era of better
forest data in national inventories as a basis for better
decisions in the future.

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) welcomes the conclusion of
final rules which recognize that such forestry projects can have
significant environmental and socio-economic impact.

However, the environmental group raised concern as the rules
do not adequately address issues like the potential use of large-
scale commercial plantations and genetically modified organisms
and vows to monitor the project implementation closely.

WWF also praised efforts to reject attempts by the U.S.
delegation at the conference to propose alternative approaches to
the treaty with its calls for more scientific research and
investment in new technologies, dismissing the calls as
unrealistic and an excuse for delaying emission cuts.

"The Bush proposals are a mandate to keep polluters in
business. They are not only woolly, economically unviable and
unscientific but the U.S. has no proof that they would deliver
any CO2 reductions at all," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the
WWF Climate Change Program.

"This meeting strongly reconfirmed that the only international
approach to tackling global warming is the Kyoto Protocol."

According to WWF, Russia is still on track to join the world's
only international agreement on climate change.

"The latest word from Moscow is that the Russian ratification
process is still under consideration and is most likely to happen
sometime after the presidential elections in March 2004," said
Alexey Kokorin, head of WWF-Russia's Climate Change Program.

"The Kyoto Protocol is built on solid foundations. The house
is now ready for 120 countries to move in. All we need is for
Russia to put the key in the door."

Head of the Russian delegation Alexander Bedritsky, however,
stirred more controversy over Russia's ratifying process during
the conference, saying the ratification is still under
consideration, but the lack of clear and specific guidance on the
realization of the joint implementation projects make the Kyoto
Protocol's concepts "not very attractive for its industry as
well as for potential domestic investors".

The head of the Russian Federal Service for
Hydrometeorological and Environmental Monitoring said the
attempts to include legal sanctions or penalties had transformed
the Protocol from an international treaty into a business
contract clinching a deal under unfavorable conditions.

He also quoted President Vladimir Putin saying that, "We hope
that Russia will not be the center of everybody's attention and
that it will not be treated as a cow that the whole world would
milk in attempt to resolve its problems. We want to resolve them
but we want to ensure that we approach these problems in a fair
manner".