By Haider Rizvi, MediaGlobal Correspondent in Copenhagen
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| Africa is already warmer by 0.5°C than it was 100 years ago, but temperatures have risen much higher in some areas – such as a part of Kenya which has become 3.5°C hotter in the past 20 years – putting extra strain on water resources. (Photo: Ami Vitale, Oxfam) |
“The developed countries are trying to collapse [the negotiation] process,” Kamel Djemouai, chief negotiator of the Africa Working Group told reporters at a press conference. “You can verify this in the daily program of the Conference.”
Djemouai and other delegates from African countries strongly criticized the president of the Climate Conference, Connie Hedegaard, for her decision to engage in informal consultations with the delegates.
Hedegaard says she wants to see the draft text ready before the heads of state arrive in Copenhagen later this week. Critics say they understand her concerns about the slow pace of talks, but that doesn’t mean that she has the right to bend the rules for negotiations.
“[The] president is saying that she can dictate consultations,” said Djemouai. “Of course we heard her. We discussed with her but not all the views and concerns are reflected in this list [of informal consultations].”
The chief African negotiator said his group would not accept informal consultations on long-term actions unless the issues related to the Kyoto protocol is addressed first. Until last week delegates were engaged in discussions on both the issues.
The Kyoto Protocol has more powerful and legally binding measures. Under this agreement, 36 developed nations are committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions an average of 5.2 percent during the period 2008-2012.
Djemouai said the African group had invited Hedegaard to establish informal consultation planarians starting with Kyoto protocol first and long-term actions on climate change later.
“Right now, we are going to lose everything,” he said. “If we accept just these informal consultations on “long-term cooperative actions,” in one two days they will tell us, we don’t have time to deal with the Kyoto Protocol issues. We reject this procedure.”
Sources told MediaGlobal that the Conference president is engaged in talks with “only a selective group of negotiators,” most of whom represent rich industrialized countries.
Civil society leaders who are attending the two-week summit told MediaGlobal that they fully share the African Groups’ concerns about Kyoto Protocol.
“This is an outrageous attempt by rich countries to kill the Kyoto targets,” said Elizabeth Bast, Friends of the Earth (FoE), one of the world’s leading networks of environmental groups. “We support African demand for Kyoto targets and mandatory emission reductions.”
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| Protesters from developing countries at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen call on industrialized nations to curb emissions. (Photo: Haider Rizvi) |
Several studies have shown that poor countries, particularly African nations need enormous amount of financial and technological assistance because they are being hit hard by the adverse impacts of climate change.
Last week, the European Union declared that it would provide more than US$3 billion to help poor countries fight climate change, but critics point out that there is no clarity about whether or not this money would be taken out of funds allocated for development in poor countries.
“They have committed some money,” Ethiopian delegate Alemnew Getnet Abera told MediaGlobal. Considering the impact of climate change on Africa, this is not enough.” Abera said the negotiating process must be democratic and transparent.
“We believe this is a new form of neo-colonialism,” added Mama Konate, a negotiator from Mali who stood next to Getnet outside the conference hall. “Kyoto is of paramount important to us. We can never accept the killing of Kyoto. It is the killing of Africa. Before we accept that we should all die first.”
