Main Outcomes of COP 18

Via unfccc.int

The Doha Climate Change Conference, the 18th Conference of Parties (COP 18) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held at the end of 2012 resulted in the “Doha Climate Gateway” decisions. The main outcomes were: 

• A second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. However, fewer countries are participating, and they have only agreed to reduce their overall emissions by at least 18% below 1990 levels in the eight year period (2013-2020). Participating countries represent less than 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the emissions reduction commitments are insufficient to keep global warming below the 2C limit; 
• Agreement to consider the creation of an international mechanism for loss and damage from extreme weather and slow onset climate impacts in developing countries; 
• The need for a plan for long-term finance was reiterated. However, no firm commitments on scaling up finance towards the agreed US$ 100 billion a year were forthcoming. Climate finance pledges amounting to approximately US$ 10 billion were made by some European countries; 
• Developed countries were urged to increase the ambition of their emission reduction targets and a work programme will be established to clarify pledges. 

REDD+ 

During COP 18, progress on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) was limited as a disagreement on emissions verification processes resulted in a stalemate. Papua New Guinea promoted a “REDD Committee” to house future REDD talks, the aim being to create a standardised REDD product within the UNFCCC. 

The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) drafted conclusions to be addressed in 2013. These include: 

• Methodological guidance for national forest monitoring systems; 
• The timing and frequency of summary information on how REDD+ safeguards will be addressed and respected; 
• Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation; 
• A work programme on results-based finance with the aim to scale up and improve the effectiveness of finance for REDD+ activities; 
• Consideration of how non-market based approaches, such as joint mitigation and adaptation, could be developed. 

The SBSTA will continue to refine the REDD+ text under its remit in 2013, and it will also work on methodological issues related to non-carbon benefits and their incentivisation. The Subsidiary Body for Implementation will initiate a process to address issues of support for REDD+ activities.

Bangladesh's climate compensation push a ray of light after dismal Doha

John Vidal in the "Povertymatters" blog at the Guardian (UK): The dust settles, the delegates have recovered from their marathon talks and the full significance of the Doha climate round can be assessed. Clearly, it was an extraordinarily weak result – no new money was put on the table, no new commitments made to cut emissions and there is no certainty the key 2015 agreement will be any stronger.

But despite little evidence of the spirit of international co-operation, there were important decisions made for developing countries. The most significant and symbolic was extending the Kyoto protocol for a second period. This brought to a close years of attempts, led by the US, to ditch it. Kyoto survives, weaker because Russia, Japan and New Zealand have decided not to join in the second period and Canada has left completely, but important because it remains the only treaty that forces rich countries to cut emissions. The 36 countries still in represent only 15% of emissions – but the principle it enshrines of the rich being legally bound holds.

Finance, as so often, was the biggest disappointment. Britain, France, Germany and a few others pledged $6bn to fill the gap between the imminent end of the "fast start" finance and 2020, when the green climate fund supposedly kicks in, but the reality is that developing countries have little or nothing to help them adapt.

But one landmark agreement changes all future climate politics and takes countries into a new era. Countries agreed to the principle of "loss and damage", to help victims of climate change. The door is now at least half open for countries to be recompensed for slow onset events such as rising sea levels, continual droughts and storms...

Panel on COP 18 and Indigenous Peoples' Rights

Analysis of the Current State of COP18 Negotiations and Indigenous Peoples' Demands on the Green Climate Fund from Tebtebba on Vimeo.

Via the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), a recent panel offered representatives from Indigenous rights organisations a platform to share their analysis of the climate change negotiations on 4 December 2012 in Doha, Qatar, during the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 18th conference of parties (COP 18). The panel was organised by Tebtebba and the Indigenous Peoples’ Partnership on Climate Change and Forests and panelists included Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Tebtebba), Dennis Mairena (Centro para la Autonomia y Desarollo de los Pueblos Indigenas - Nicaragua), and Stanley Kimaren (Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners - Kenya). 

The panelists analysed texts from the Subsidiary Body on Implementation and the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice and noted the extremely slow pace in negotiations in the Long Term Cooperative Action and Kyoto Protocol working groups. They also discussed the importance in protecting gains made by Indigenous peoples in the next climate change agreement, including the recognition of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recognition of the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the requirements for full and effective participation in climate change programmes. On the Green Climate Fund, the panelists called for full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples, with separate representation from civil society.

Also relevant to climate change negotiations, Simone Lovera (Global Forest Coalition) recently drafted an article, posted on REDD-Monitor, on how the form of Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems being developed to track the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programme may be a ‘trojan horse’ for carbon markets that have yet to demonstrate results. 

Video from the panel can be accessed here. Simone Lovera’s article can be found here.

Climate funds must help integrate climate into policy

Simon Anderson in SciDev.net: At last year's conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), countries decided that "comprehensive, iterative assessments of development needs and climate vulnerabilities" should form the basis for national climate adaptation programmes.

Processes are already underway to achieve this aim. At a workshop in Tanzania last month, policymakers from Bangladesh, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda discussed progress on integrating climate change strategies into their country's development plans.

For example, Kenya's Climate Change Action Plan — validated on 22 November and being presented at the current 18th session of the conference of parties (COP 18) in Doha, Qatar (26 November–7 December) — spans adaptation, finance, institutional arrangements, mitigation, technology, capacity development and knowledge management.

Ethiopia's Climate-Resilient Green Economy strategy supports an array of investments, including electric power generation from renewable sources, scaling up the use of more efficient stoves, and increasing the efficiency of the livestock sector.

Similarly, Ghana and Mozambique have national climate change strategies and the Gambia is integrating climate change responses into its Program for Accelerated Growth and Employment.

The integration of cross-cutting issues into policy and planning has been called 'mainstreaming'. This matters because climate change is a special kind of policy problem — a moving and growing target.

Agriculture takes a backseat again

IRIN: Discussions about much-needed support for agriculture - which is seen both as a victim and a cause of climate change - at the UN’s climate change conference in Doha have been postponed until next year.

Agriculture is a contentious and emotionally fraught issue. It results in the emission of major greenhouses gases, such as nitrous oxide and methane; the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates agriculture accounts for 13.5 percent of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

But climate change also threatens agriculture, which most developing countries’ populations rely on for income. The impact of climate change also threatens global food security; projections show that yields from food crops could decline by five percent for each degree Celsius increase in global warming. Many poor farmers are already experiencing the impact of increasingly variable rainfall.

Because of sharp divisions over the kind of support agriculture needs, little progress has been made in addressing these issues in the new climate deal being negotiated under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Some at the UN talks - known as the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP18) - see agricultural issues playing a more dominant role in reducing global warming. These participants emphasize the need to reduce agriculture-related emissions.  At the same time, developing countries are arguing they need more money and better technology to help farmers adapt to the impact of climate change, including frequent droughts, flooding and increased soil salinity....

Abraham Janssens, "Scaldis and Antwerpia," 1609

Dealing with loss and damage

IRIN: In a formal letter to Qatar - host of the 18th conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - a coalition of 40 NGOs, backed by academics, has called for urgent action on loss and damage caused by climate change. The NGOs have drawn up a framework to help country negotiators address the contentious issue.

The proposed framework opens the door for developing countries to possibly receive compensation for losses and damages that are incurred when efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change have failed. 

Policy frameworks provided by NGOs have proven handy in past climate change talks. In 2010, a framework put together by a similar coalition of NGOs paved the way for the adoption of the Cancun Adaptation Framework; this was a significant breakthrough for developing countries and NGOs trying to draw attention to the need to adapt to climate change.

Two key objectives of the framework are: the prevention of loss and damage through mitigation and adaptation efforts, and compensation and rehabilitation following the occurrence of loss and damage. These objectives receive equal footing in the document.

“We don’t want the UNFCCC process to give up on mitigation and adaptation, hence our equal emphasis. We have to keep the cost of loss and damage down,” explained Harjeet Singh of ActionAid, one of the contributors to a briefing paper on the framework....

Important Publications on REDD+ for COP 18

As government representatives gather to consider solutions to, and means to mitigate the impact of, climate change at the 18th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, several significant publications on the impact of climate change and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) on the rights of Indigenous peoples have been launched by Natural Justice partners. 

The Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) have published a briefing paper entitled "REDD+, Rights and Indigenous Peoples: Lessons from REDD+ Initiatives in Asia." The brief examines how far countries participating in REDD+ in Asia have advanced in addressing the social and environmental safeguards needed for the implementation of REDD+ and reflects on pilot activities in Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam. Their findings suggest that outstanding critical issues for Indigenous peoples include the lack of effective engagement, free, prior and informed consent, and unresolved land tenure and carbon rights issues. The brief can be downloaded here.  

The Forest Peoples Programme, has released a note that refers to the Indigenous Peoples Caucus position on REDD+ and analyses key issues and opportunities for Indigenous peoples to influence the current REDD+ negotiations in Doha. The note can be downloaded here. 

The Indigenous Peoples Caucus, on behalf of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC), released a statement to the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) concerning REDD+ which raised issues such as the need to respect collective and customary systems of forest governance and management, the roles and contributions of Indigenous women, and the need for an independent complaints mechanism. The statement can be accessed here.

IPCC focuses on natural disasters

The Peninsula (Qatar): Experts recommend avoiding risks in order to minimise the damage caused by climate change, which has stronger impact in underdeveloped regions that are not prepared.

These are some of the conclusions of the report completed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), with authors from 62 countries. The report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation, was the topic of discussion at the UN climate change conference yesterday.

Rajendra K Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC, said that the “increase in sea levels is not our only challenge”, adding that 95 percent of debt for natural disasters affects developing countries.

Maarten van Aalst, from Red Cross/Crescent Climate Centre, said that there are signs of extreme meteorological phenomena, which serve as warning and would avoid many damages. He added that there is need for stronger organisations to do things “smarter and better in the future”.

He talked about certain risk factors that should be taken into consideration, like cooling in public facilities or changes in infrastructure to cope with heat waves in Europe, given that research says that there is a likely increase in heat waves and warm days and nights across Europe.

He also referred to the growing number of hurricanes in US and Caribbean, listing risks like population growth, increasing property rules and higher storm surge with sea level rise. These issues can be addressed with better forecasting, stricter building codes and regional risk pooling...

Video Repository on Forest Commodification

Forests are facing immense challenges from the increased commodification of their resources. Some incoming policies may worsen these challenges dramatically. To highlight the lived experiences of communities affected by forest commodification, the Global Forest Coalition has launched a repositoryof videos gathered from a variety of organisations and contexts. The repository has been launched as government representatives gather for the 18th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to highlight the results of commodification and the dangers of policies that ignore or intensify commodification processes. The repository organises the videos into three key thematic areas: exporting commodities; carbon: schemes, scams & cowboys; and rights and resistance.

The repository can be accessed here.

UNFCCC COP 18

Via unfccc.int

The 18th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is taking place from 26 November to 7 December, 2012 in Doha, Qatar. 

On Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), COP 18 will consider financing options for results-based REDD+ activities, seek to clarify the links between REDD+ and climate change mitigation actions, consider the timing and frequency of summary information that REDD+ countries will provide on how REDD+ safeguards are being addressed and respected, provide guidance on national forest monitoring systems, offer guidance on establishing forest reference emission levels, and open discussions around land use, land use change and forestry and the impact upon REDD+. 

Find out more about COP 18, including schedules, reports and decisions, here. Live webcasts from COP 18 can be accessed here. The International Institute for Sustainable Development's daily coverage of COP 18 can be found here.