Climate Change: Samoa Pleads Its Case at Copenhagen
Posted: December 18, 2009 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, education, Environment, NZPacific, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: capital cities, climate change, climate change samoa, copenhagen, denmark, environmental issues, horizontal, Human Interest, Listening, meeting, Politics, Sailele Malielegaoi Tuilaepa, samoa pleads its case at copenhagen, Samoa Prime Minister, speech Leave a comment
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+16+december&iid=7395303″ src=”8/4/0/9/UN_Climate_Change_0a86.jpg?adImageId=8433111&imageId=7395303″ width=”500″ height=”285″ /]
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK : Delegates listen to speeches during the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Politicians, world leaders, NGOs, environmentalists are meeting for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 that runs until December 18. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
[tweetmeme]Samoa’s Prime Minister Sailele Malielegaoi Tuilaepa delivered this speech on the 16th at Copenhagen
Related Climate Change Pacific Sites
Climate Pasifika Blog from Copenhagen
This site is blogging direct from the UN Climate Change Conference with several journalists/writers paid to do this for SPREP. But in its entire time blogging at Copenhagen, it has logged less than 400 views (by this morning) for all its hard work and the funding that must have gone into this. That is a great pity. Perhaps it has not been well publicised outside of SPREP, UN officials who matter, and their own staff, we don’t know for sure. Judging on the traffic to our site, there is strong interest in things Pacific around the world outside of the Pacific region, particularly in the USA and Europe. So perhaps publicity would have ensured more hits to the site. Still, mainstream journos covered a few stories on the Pacific which was good. We didn’t know about the site until we searched for it last week. Back then the traffic was around 30 views for that day. That’s a great pity. So check it out.
NZ Dumped From BBC Global Debate on Climate Change; We Tell You Why
Posted: December 17, 2009 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, education, Environment, health, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: Arts Culture and Entertainment, australia climate change, australian culture, Ban Ki-Moon, BBC debate on climate change, capital cities, changing, Climate, climate change, copenhagen, day, denmark, Diplomacy, government, hold, horizontal, Hyatt, john key, Kevin Rudd, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, new zealand dumped from climate change debate, pacific nations, Politics, Port Of Spain, Press Conference, Prime Minister, royalty, second, Secretary-General, Trinidad And Tobago, united nations Leave a comment[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=kevin+rudd&iid=7390341″ src=”4/3/d/7/Gordon_Brown_Holds_b296.jpg?adImageId=8385768&imageId=7390341″ width=”500″ height=”589″ /]
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hold a bi-lateral talks on December 15, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. World leaders have started arriving today to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 that runs until December 18. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/WPA PoolGetty Images)
Key dumped from BBC Copenhagen debate
Updated 8:30 AM Thursday Dec 17, 2009John Key was dumped in favour of Australian PM Kevin Rudd.
Prime Minister John Key has been bumped at the last minute from a worldwide televised climate change debate – in favour of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The BBC World news debate today – dubbed The Greatest Debate on Earth – has been billed as the media highlight of the Copenhagen climate talks and the Prime Minister had announced he would be in it.
With all respect to the New Zealand Prime Minister, his dumping is no surprise to pacificEyeWitness.org. What was a surprise was that the BBC had initially included him. Because climate change talks between world leaders have seldom included New Zealand since the change of government at the end of 2008. John Key is not a player on climate change. He never has been.
On the world leaders stage, it was New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark who was a key player on climate change globally. Unfortunately, news coverage in New Zealand sometimes makes New Zealand appear more a player than it actually is when it comes to climate change. It is not an example to the rest of the world. That should give you a clue about how un-climate friendly the New Zealand Government’s Climate Change Bill really was. It benefits polluters, not consumers. But most New Zealanders did not know that until after the Bill was passed into law.
What the Prime Minister’s initial inclusion in the BBC debate reveals, however, is how well connected his press secretaries are with the rest of the world’s media. They would have talked him up and made him out to be more concerned about climate change than he really is. But actions speak louder than words. And sooner or later, BBC’s research and talking to other world leaders, its producers would have quickly worked out that New Zealand’s Prime Minister was the wrong guy to put on the debate. Because New Zealand, and the Prime Minister, are not key players at all on this issue. That changed at the change of government last year.
All things considered, Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd could be the only choice of the two. Let’s look at why Rudd was chosen over Key for BBC’s global panel on Climate Change:
- Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is one of the lead negotiators behind, and in front of, the Copenhagen Climate Change talks, along with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Danish Prime Minister who are key movers and shakers at Copenhagen.Did you see John Key sitting at that table? No, of course, you didn’t.
- Rudd, not Key, was also part of the press conference on climate change at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Trinidad and Tobago, along with the same key movers and shakers at Copenhagen.Did you see John Key at that table? No, of course, you didn’t.
- Rudd, not Key, who was called to the White House after CHOGM to give Obama an update and further climate change talks ahead of the Copenhagen Leaders. We brought you the pictures on this site so use the search tab to find them.Did you see John Key at that meeting to discuss climate change with Rudd and Obama? No, you didn’t, because he wasn’t invited.
- Rudd, not Key, spoke up in support of Pacific island nations affected by climate change at this year’s Pacific Island Leaders Forum in August. That was duly noted by the United Nation’s Copenhagen organisers. They make mention of it on the official website. Again, those stories about Rudd’s support received coverage in Australian media, but not New Zealand.
So, in light of this information, was BBC right to dump Key from the panel in favour of Rudd? Exactly.
Here’s one piece of the photographic evidence(you can go to the search tab here to find the rest):
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=kevin+rudd&iid=7152964″ src=”c/b/1/5/Commonwealth_Heads_Of_f3b9.jpg?adImageId=8386056&imageId=7152964″ width=”500″ height=”342″ /]
PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – NOVEMBER 28: (L-R) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussenm, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning, and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hold a press conference on climate change during the second day of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at the Hyatt Hotel on November 28, 2009 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad And Tobago. CHOGM is held every 2 years, bringing together world leaders to discuss key issues of a global and Commonwealth nature, and key policies and initiatives. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images).
United Nations Climate Change Conference: Political Report from the Ground
Posted: December 16, 2009 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Environment, NZPacific, Opinion & Commentary, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: anticipation, Arts Culture and Entertainment, Ban Ki-Moon, Bestof, bhutan, British Royalty, capital cities, charles chauvel, climate change, copenhagen, denmark, environmental issues, Group of People, horizontal, Human Interest, Opening Ceremony, People, Politics, Prince Charles, prince charles at the climate change conference, Prince of Wales, royalty, scotland, Secretary-General, Sitting, Start, tahiti, topics, Topix, UN secretary general, united nations, united nations climate change summit, Waist Up, waiting 1 Comment[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen&iid=7390057″ src=”d/7/e/f/UN_Climate_Change_fcf5.jpg?adImageId=8342965&imageId=7390057″ width=”500″ height=”319″ /]
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK : Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales (C) seated between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon (L) and Yvo de Boer Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change await the start of the opening ceremony of the High Level Segment of The United Nations Climate Change Conference on December 15, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Politicians and environmentalists are meeting for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 that runs until December 18. Some of the participating nation’s leaders will attend the last days of the summit. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
An on-the-ground view from Charles Chauvel, a New Zealand Member of Parliament, who is currently in Copenhagen attending the UN Climate Change Summit. Chauvel, a lawyer of Tahitian and Scottish descent, is the Climate Change Spokesperson for the Labour Opposition. He has given pacificEyeWitness.org permission to publish his post here.
COP15 – What will come of Copenhagen?
By Charles Chauvel in Copenhagen
Day 4 for me today. Yesterday, the developing nations staged a walkout from the negotiations. This was largely to dramatise their concern about the developed world’s unwillingness to taken on meaningful pollution reduction targets. After negotiations were suspended, there was a lot of discussion over what would happen here over the four days of the Conference that remain. To simplify massively, there are four big sticking points in the way of reaching a comprehensive agreement – the targets each country adopts; the level of compensation to be paid to developing countries; the best way to measure and police each nation’s emissions; and how the Copenhagen agreement takes over from the Kyoto Protocol.
Based on what veterans of the process have been saying, the consensus is that there are four alternative scenarios for how the week will end up:
1. A comprehensive agreement with detailed rules. Unfortunately, given the complexity of the issues that remain to be agreed, and the fact that the US is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol, but is the key player in terms of making commitments for its replacement, this seems virtually impossible. The US has only really been engaging since President Obama’s coming into office in January, and although considerable progress has been made, including developing countries voluntarily agreeing to some fairly impressive emissions reduction targets, an enormous amount of detail still has to be resolved.
2. A political framework with minimal detail. This seems to be the best outcome that can be hoped for. Under it, countries will agree to a set of principles and goals that lack final numbers, with those numbers being negotiated in the two years between now and the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol. This is in fact how Kyoto itself came about – in 1995, countries agreed the “Berlin Mandate” which two years later became the detailed set of rules we now know as the Protocol.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=climate+change&iid=7390169″ src=”8/8/1/0/UN_Climate_Change_3525.jpg?adImageId=8344853&imageId=7390169″ width=”500″ height=”404″ /]
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore listens to speakers at the opening ceremony of the High Level Segment of The United Nations Climate Change Conference.
3. A ‘greenwash’ agreement. Under this scenario, countries paper over their many disagreements but fail to make and real progress, or agree further steps. A high level statement of concern, but no agreed timetable for concrete actions, would be the outcome. In many ways, the worst possible outcome because it would take huge effort to get things back on track.
4. A dramatic failure. Developing nations,especially small island states at risk of devastation from climate change, frustrated at a lack of commitment from wealthy countries, walk out of the negotiations permanently because they won’t agree to a greenwash. Some new framwork would need to be found going forward, potentially via individual UN bodies like the Food and Agriculture Organisation on land use change and forestry, and International Martime Organisation and IATA on bunker fuels.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen&iid=7390059″ src=”5/7/9/0/UN_Climate_Change_f580.jpg?adImageId=8343219&imageId=7390059″ width=”500″ height=”325″ /]
Delegation from Bhutan awaits the start of the opening ceremony of the High Level Segment of The United Nations Climate Change Conference.
The NZ officials from MFAT, MFE and MAF are really well thought of here – as opposed to the political leaders from NZ. The officials are seen as having worked hard for many years on the technical issues at stake, and have a reputation for diligence, honesty and integrity. Thank goodness for them, even if they make our current Government look better than it deserves. It would not surprise me if the officials end up playing an important role in brokering any forward deal. Hopefully there will be one!
Photos: What You Haven’t Seen of Copenhagen’s UN Climate Change; Watch Opening Ceremony
Posted: December 9, 2009 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, education, Environment, health, NZPacific, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: agreement, attending, audience, Bestof, bhutan, capital cities, center, Chairperson, chinese, city, climate change, conference, copenhagen, day, dead, demanding, denmark, environmental damage, environmental issues, full length, government, group, Group of People, horizontal, illuminated, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Major, natural resources, Opening Ceremony, Organized Group, Parliament Building, Participant, participants, People, picture, playful, Prime Minister, protest, speech, stand, taking, talking, topics, Topix, UN climate change, united nations, Waist Up, world, writing Leave a comment[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7334794″ src=”7/1/4/e/UN_Climate_Change_5792.jpg?adImageId=8124836&imageId=7334794″ width=”500″ height=”359″ /]
[tweetmeme]
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – DECEMBER 07: A participant stands in front of the UN Climate Wall during the first day of United Nations Climate Change Conference on December 7, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Politicians and environmentalists meet for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 that runs until December 18. Photos by Miguel Villagran/Getty Images.
To watch Opening Ceremony, click here
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7328765″ src=”6/b/0/f/Copenhagen_Climate_Summit_a2ba.jpg?adImageId=8125078&imageId=7328765″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /]
An illuminated globe with the writing ‘Hopenhagen’ stands in the city center next to the parliament on December 6, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7334026″ src=”6/a/5/b/UN_Climate_Change_8f13.jpg?adImageId=8124927&imageId=7334026″ width=”500″ height=”332″ /]
Member of an environmentalist group pretend to be dead during a protest demanding a real climate deal during the first day of United Nations Climate Change Conference at the Belle centre.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333846″ src=”6/c/f/d/UN_Climate_Change_2fe5.jpg?adImageId=8125041&imageId=7333846″ width=”500″ height=”329″ /]
Members of the delegation of Bhutan chat with each other prior to the opening ceremony
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333899″ src=”c/1/7/0/UN_Climate_Change_d61f.jpg?adImageId=8124937&imageId=7333899″ width=”500″ height=”311″ /]
Ritt Bjerregrad, major of Copenhagen, addresses the audience during the opening ceremony.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333896″ src=”1/1/1/5/UN_Climate_Change_f102.jpg?adImageId=8124990&imageId=7333896″ width=”500″ height=”314″ /]
A member of the Chinese delegation takes a picture of himself prior to the opening ceremony.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7334009″ src=”d/2/2/c/UN_Climate_Change_0bd0.jpg?adImageId=8124954&imageId=7334009″ width=”500″ height=”256″ /]
Members of the environmentalist group TckTckTck protest during the first day.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7334012″ src=”e/a/9/5/UN_Climate_Change_9934.jpg?adImageId=8124933&imageId=7334012″ width=”500″ height=”364″ /]
UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer holds a candle in his hand that he got handed over from the environmentalist group TckTckTck during the first day.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333848″ src=”6/3/0/1/UN_Climate_Change_3f1c.jpg?adImageId=8125014&imageId=7333848″ width=”500″ height=”326″ /]
Participants from all over the world attend the opening ceremony.
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333871″ src=”0/7/c/b/UN_Climate_Change_4ab8.jpg?adImageId=8125012&imageId=7333871″ width=”500″ height=”335″ /]
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333847″ src=”7/5/7/5/UN_Climate_Change_bacb.jpg?adImageId=8125017&imageId=7333847″ width=”500″ height=”346″ /]
(L-R) Lars Lokke Rasmussen , Prime Minister of Denmark, Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer attend the opening ceremony
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7334813″ src=”e/7/2/1/UN_Climate_Change_61d3.jpg?adImageId=8125102&imageId=7334813″ width=”500″ height=”306″ /]
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333827″ src=”b/8/7/8/UN_Climate_Change_a0a6.jpg?adImageId=8125067&imageId=7333827″ width=”500″ height=”325″ /]
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7333828″ src=”4/4/4/4/UN_Climate_Change_21fc.jpg?adImageId=8125072&imageId=7333828″ width=”500″ height=”340″ /]
Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, drinks water during the opening ceremony
[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen+climate+summit&iid=7334812″ src=”3/0/9/2/UN_Climate_Change_c82f.jpg?adImageId=8125090&imageId=7334812″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /]
(L-R) UN Climate Chief Yvo de Boer, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, and Ritt Bjerregrad, major of Copenhagen, attend the opening ceremony.
Photos: Samoa, NZ, Tonga, Vanuatu, Australia at CHOGM Trinidad and Tobago
Posted: November 30, 2009 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, Environment, NZPacific, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: Arrival, Arts Culture and Entertainment, australian culture, Ban Ki-Moon, british culture, british empire, British Royalty, Business, business person, capital cities, changing, Climate, David Miliband, day, denmark, dinner, Diplomacy, Elizabeth Ii, event, Feleti Sevele, Final, french culture, government, head, hold, horizontal, hotel, Hyatt, Jacob Zuma, john key, Kevin Rudd, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, leadership, meeting, new zealand, Nicolas Sarkozy, Opening Ceremony, Politics, Port Of Spain, president, President of France, Press Conference, Prime Minister, royalty, second, Secretary-General, South African, speech, talking, Third, tonga, Trinidad And Tobago, united nations, vanuatu, vertical Leave a comment[tweetmeme]Main agenda for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2009:
- Democratic Governance & Governments
- Sustainable Developments
- Assistance for Developing Nations
- Development of youth. A Youth Forum was held.
- A special session on climate change was convened and a declaration made.It is worth noting that although Climate Change grabbed media headlines, the main focus of CHOGM was apparently on YOUTH. We didn’t know that from the mainstream coverage.
PORT-OF-SPAIN, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO – NOVEMBER 29: Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi attends the 2nd Executive Session on the third day of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at the Hyatt Hotel on November 29, 2009 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad And Tobago. CHOGM is held every 2 years, bringing together world leaders to discuss key issues of a global and Commonwealth nature, and key policies and initiatives. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images). Content © 2009 Getty Images All rights reserved.
Youth make strong call for inclusion in decision making
Although discussions and initiatives on Climate Change have grabbed the headlines at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2009, the main issue on the agenda of the Commonwealth’s young people was “Youth Involvement in Decision Making.”The Commonwealth Youth Forum officially closed on Friday night after seven days of intense work and some play but the work was not finished because on Saturday, the Youth Dialogue was held. This comprised of a selection of delegates from the Youth Forum in discussions with Heads of State where the case for decision making inclusion was once again put forward by the youth.
CHOMG 2009
Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking News: President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Posted: October 9, 2009 Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, education, Honour & Tribute, NZPacific, Politics, US & Foreign Affairs, US Presidential Elections 2008 | Tags: (L), 2, 2009, aboard, afghanistan, air, army, barack, breaking news barack obama, commander, copenhagen, denmark, force, forces, gen, house, McChrystal, meets, military, news, Newscom, obama, october, one, photo, Politics, president, president obama, security, Souza/The, Stanley, UPI/Pete, us, war, white, White House, white house usa Leave a commentWhat an extraordinary year this has been for President Barack Obama and his family. 
Press Release
The Norwegian Nobel Committee
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”
Oslo, October 9, 2009
Archives to March 2010 - PEW 
UN Climate Change Copenhagen: Cloak & Daggers As US & Japan Reject Kyoto Reference
Posted: December 17, 2009 | Author: PacificEyeWitness.com | Filed under: Analysis, Breaking News, Business, Community, Current, education, Environment, NZPacific, Opinion & Commentary, Politics, South Pacific Region, US & Foreign Affairs | Tags: capital cities, charles chauvel, copenhagen, denmark, environmental issues, former nz prime minister, Headshot, helen clark, horizontal, Human Interest, meeting, nz, parliament, Politics, talking, United Nations Climate Change Conference, Wangari Maathai | Leave a comment[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=copenhagen&iid=7390183″ src=”8/8/7/f/UN_Climate_Change_ec9b.jpg?adImageId=8392010&imageId=7390183″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /]
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK –Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai speaks to delegates at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Politicians and environmentalists are meeting for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 that runs until December 18. Some of the participating nation’s leaders will attend the last days of the summit. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)
By Charles Chauvel in Copenhagen
Late yesterday, I was having dinner with our former PM, Helen Clark, here as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The UNDP is taking a close interest in a number of issues, principally the financing of developing economies as they move away from fossil fuels.
It was great to catch up with Helen. Before dinner, I introduced her to Oliver Bruce, a kiwi studying in the US who is here with one of the youth delegations. Oliver and Mahara Inglis, a member of the NZ Youth delegation, posted a great blog last week . After the dinner break yesterday, a new draft treaty text emerged.
Almost as soon as it was released, reservations began to be added by the major players. The US and Japan objected to any legally binding reduction targets for developed countries, and insisted that there be no reference to the Kyoto Protocol. The EU expressed its disappointment at this approach, and said that reductions targets should be legally binding for developed, as well as emerging, countries. China and India objected to the suggestion that all countries, not just developing ones, should have binding reduction targets. Technology transfer, financing the developing world’s transition and the merits of market mechanisms like carbon trading also attracted reservations.
The Conference session was delayed, then suspended, only to resume late in the night with countries starting to express their concerns in detail and start redrafting. The Chair – the Danish Enviroment Minister Connie Hedegaard – resigned her position – as the session was brought to an end for lack of time. Today, countries have been expressing reservations and positions in greater detail as the Danes grappled with demonstrations from NGO representatives and others locked out of the conference venue because of capacity concerns, eventually providing them with a new meeting venue in the central city. Danish PM Rassmussen has taken over chairing the sessions.
Meanwhile, Tim Groser was doing his best to try to make sure that some positive spin from the NZ delegation started Thursday’s NZ news cycle. At a press conference scheduled for 3am Thursday NZ time, he sat at the press table with a slightly bewildered looking Tom Vilsack, the US Agriculture Secretary, to announce the first contributions to National’s “Global Agriculture Fund”. This is designed to get international scientific cooperation going on the reduction of emissions from agriculture (and, everyone suspects – although it’s not often said out loud – build support for excluding food-related production from international agreements altogether). Details are scant, but it looks like a bit of money from the Canadians, NZ$125M from the US, and NZ$45M from NZ.
In other words, about 25% of what the previous Government committed to the Fast Forward Fund – a PPP that would have had funding research into emissions reductions as one of its key roles. National scrapped the Fast Forward Fund. That’s a pity. Not only would it have done a lot more to kick-start emissions reduction in agriculture, New Zealand would have owned all the intellectual property resulting from it. We could have exploited that IP commercially, or given some of it away in aid to food producing developing countries. Now that it will be funded multilaterally, it would be my guess that won’t be possible. In other words, a lousy deal for NZ Inc.
Reports are now coming through that President Obama, on the eve of his departure for Copenhagen, has announced a US commitment to a 17% reduction in emissions by 2020 over 2005 levels. This amounts to a 4% reduction over 1990 levels. It’s not nearly enough. But it’s the first time we’ve heard a commitment from the US to a target. Now things start to get really interesting.
Charles Chauvel, a lawyer of Tahitian and Scottish descent, is a politician in the New Zealand Parliament representing the Labour Party, currently in Opposition. He is attending Copenhagen as the Labour Spokesperson on Climate Change.