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PostHeaderIcon Agreement may not be reached

United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has given a strong signal that a binding agreement on climate change will not be reached in Durban.

On Wednesday, he urged member states attending the climate negotiations to go back to their countries and forge their own legislation and strategies to mitigate emissions and adapt to climate change. “Don’t wait for a binding agreement. It could take years. All these member states should take their own measures,” he said.

“Last year we saw the highest emissions ever… If we carry on as though it is business as usual we will be out of business. It is business unusual… We must continue to advance the case for action, for clean policies and green policy initiatives. We must do initiatives so communities can make more informed decisions.”

UN Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueras concurred, saying that negotiations were not going at the pace she would like.

“This is a global business plan being written by 200 countries; we have made good progress last week and more this week. We cannot wait for a perfect business plan… If we don’t do implementation now, governments will not be able to implement when the plan is perfected. It will be too late.”

 

PostHeaderIcon Deconstructing the African position at COP17

Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, the lead negotiator of the African Group, the only regional grouping serving as a negotiation coalition, admitted at a press briefing on Wednesday that it remained for civil society, activists and the media to rescue climate change diplomacy from the doldrums of negotiating texts to the real-life effects of climate change.

He described the African position as “aiming for the moon”, but conceded that negotiations were about give and take. The continent’s lead negotiator stressed Africa had a vested interest in ensuring the Durban negotiations were a success. To this end, he said ministers had offered negotiators five pieces of advice prioritising multilateralism, a second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol, adaptation and concrete means of implementation and “operationalisation” through implementation of the Bali action plan.

While he offered a confident outlook on the outcome of the negotiations, Mpanu-Mpanu also highlighted the subversive impact of geo-political influence on the common African position.

The African Common Position on Climate Change, is endorsed by South Africa, was agreed in September in Mali. While the united position held well for the first week of negotiations, reports indicate the common African position on agriculture has started to disintegrate after the arrival of ministers this week.

In response to reports of a fracturing African position Mpanu-Mpanu said, “Some issues cannot be resolved by negotiators. They require political solutions.”

 

PostHeaderIcon COP17 Climate Lords Must Listen to Scientists

Heads of government and negotiators are locked in talks regarding commitments to the Kyoto Protocol and carbon accountability. However, those who are really in the know - the scientists, feel that negotiating platforms should pay more attention to scientific considerations.

"Mitigation activities are essential to reduce the scope and scale of global warming, however an area which is not prevalent in COP17 discussions is that of anthropogenic and natural carbon emissions, which is crucial to understanding the gravity of the climate change situation." These are words of Dr. Pedro Monteiro, Chief Scientist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa.

Dr Monteiro and his team are conducting research on the Southern Ocean, analysing its capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) in the coming years if carbon emissions are not halted. He explains that anthropogenic emissions are the carbon releases resulting from human activity, and natural emissions being a bi-product of natural biodiversity processes.

 
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