With a near chaotic ending to the Copenhegan summit(COP-15) last year,not much is to be expected from the ongoing climate talks at Cancun(COP-16) under the aegis of UNFCC.While the frequencies of extreme weather events seem to be on the rise as reaveled by the recent intense heat waves and the associated wild fire in Russia and the torrential devastating flood in Pakistan the world political leadership remain as divided as ever with differences even widening in certain crucial respects.As the talks unfold all parties seem to be sticking to there old guarded positions over emission reduction targets,funding criteria,technology transfer,measuring emission reductions and anti-deforestation initiatives ,the chances of delivering any decision on the committments to the second phase of Kyoto Protocol remain a major suspect.Negotiations seemed to be heading for a breakdown with Japaneese delegation backed by Russia,Canada and Australia categorically ruling out extending the Kyoto protocol for a second committment period unless other major emitting countries like USA,China and India were brought on board for emission reduction targets.On the other hand a group of developing countries led by The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (Alba)an association of 9 Latin American countries have made it clear that they would back off from the ongoing talks if the negotiating text doesn't include a committment by rich countries to set fresh targets for a second period of Kyoto beyond 2012.African nations seem to have their own reservations hugely dissatisfied with inadequate financing proposals from rich industrialized countries.With no major political leader attending the meeting this year there is an emergent risk that some of the key parties involved in the climate change talks may start losing interest.
The present talks at Cancun(Mexico)encompasses the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of Parties since the United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change entered into force after the Rio de Jenerio Earth summit-1992.The conference basically aims at assessing progress in dealing with climate changes especially those related to green house gas emissions.The third conference of parties after intensive negotiations in december 1997 resulted in the adoption of the Kyoto protocol outlining the green house gas reduction obligation for Annexture 1 countries(industrialised),along with other mechanisms such as emission trading and clean development mechanism.The protocol entered into force in 2005 at Montreal where an agreement was also reached to extend the life of Kyoto protocol beyond it's 2012 expiration date and for negotiating deeper cuts in green house gas emissions.The much hyped COP-15 took place at Copenhagen with the overall goal of establishing an ambitious climate agreement for the period from 2012 when the first committment period for the Kyoto protocl expires.With differences between developed and developing countries widely coming into open, a last minute compromise, an outcome of closed door meeting between the top leadership of US and BASIC countries under the name 'Copenhegan Accord' was reached of which all the delegates of COP-15 agreed to take note of.While the accord recognised the climate change as one of the greatest challenges faced by the mankind and therfore the associated need for making deeper emission cuts to curtail the rise in global temperature below the two degree celsius against the pre industrial level it failed to reach a binding agreement on emission reduction targets.Under the accord the developed nations pledged 10bn$ a year in climate aid for three years and set a goal for much more money anually ultimately reaching $100bn ayear by 2020.The accord called of the need for reducing the emission from deforestation and the consequent need for mobilising the resources from developed countries to achieve this.The accord stressed the need for developing market structures to enhance cost effective mitigation actions,and establishing a technology mechanism to accellerate technology development and transfer driven by country specific approach.
While the US president Barack Obama,who worked overtime to clinch a deal called it a major breakthrough, the world community was to witness a major set-back with most of the developing countries refusing to accept the accord as a legally binding agreement.With halfway through the Cancun the world leadership seems to be again divided on the old paradigm of developed and developing nations.Developed countries have been constantly arguing that since most of the additional carbon emissions in future will be taking place in developing countries in particular China and India they should also undertake emission cuts to achieve long run carbon equity.Developing countries on the other hand have been arguing for 'comman but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities'.They in particular point that developed countries have contributed a century's worth of emission to global atmosphere and developing world have now only started to use their share of global atmosphere.They would in particular never achieve the per capita emission level of those achieved by the developed west.Moreover accepting any emission reduction target may have an adverse impact on their GDP growth rates and international competitiveness a high level of which is absolutely essential for removing the myriad of poverty facing their population.Huge differences also persist over binding committments by developed countries to research,development,deployment and diffusion of cost effective technologies in developing countries with additional funding,while developed countries want to have strict market related conditions and tight Intellectual Property right regime developing nations want to be put in place a collabrative R&D among major developed and developing countries to bring about cost effective technological innovations and transformational technologies and achieve widest possible dessimination at affordable costs of existing climate friendly technologies and practices going beyond market mechanisms and competitive economic models.An all accepted deal on climate talks in particular shall also address the issue of capacity building in developing countries to enable successful absorption and application of climate friendly technologies.
Whatever may be the arguments of different parties climate change has become a global challenge requiring a global response.The more worrisome is the fact that developing world where most of the world poor reside are to be most seriously impacted by the consequences of climate change.While the developed world can not escape the fact that most of the GHG concentration in the atmosphere is a direct outcome of their past development endeavour and lavish life style,developing countries as responsible member of global community must work to keep their emission footprint within sustainable and equitable levels.Developed world needs to pledge their resources for mitigation efforts and developing and transferring resources at easy equitable terms.Developing countries need to deploy their own creditable reduction targets and employ emission reducing technologies including development of non fossil fuels.As experiences across the globe on climate front reveal narrow parochial short term gains may be heavily outweighed by long term irrepearable losses to the world community as a whole.
