Chandra Bhushan Durban, December 9: Today morning at 8.00 am the Indaba Text, which is a proposal of the CoP Chair on the major outcomes from the Durban conference, was released. The text has the following elements which could eventually form the basis of a Durban declaration or agreement:
Durban, December 7: Transcript of the US press briefing by Todd Stern, Durban, December 7, 2011 Todd Stern: Negotiations are continuing...Both Kyoto and what happens in the future, questions and the issues relating to implementation of Cancun Agreement... Let me take your questions.
Durban, December 8, 2011: At the deliberations on REDD+ in the meetings of the SBSTA (Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice), India has reportedly devoted its time and energy in ensuring safeguards for the rights of indigenous communities and for conserving natural forests, giving the lie to the impression that nothing was being done on the issue. In fact, Indian negotiators point out that of the three elements under discussion in the SBSTA (safeguards, MRV and benchmarks), safeguards is the only one which has been thoroughly discussed.
November 28, 2011, Durban: On the opening day of CoP17 in Durban, India managed keep the issues of equity, intellectual property rights and unilateral trade mechanisms on the negotiation table, even though developed countries like the United States and Singapore opposed their introduction.
November 28, 2011, Durban: Key players at the climate negotiations in Durban presented a preview of their tactics which they might adopt over the next 14 days. On the opening day of CoP17, China made it clear that without finance and technology transfer on the table, the talks were doomed. The US on its part wanted the Cancun Agreement, signed last year, to be operationalised. The European Union stuck to its recent demand that a solution to global warming is only possible if emerging economies like China and India take emission reduction targets.
November 30, 2011: India and China cannot be blamed for lack of progress in the global climate change negotiation, a senior negotiator from the Africa Group said today. Speaking to Down to Earth, at the sidelines of the COP17 in Durban, Seyni Alfa Nafo, a negotiator from Mali and the spokesperson of the Africa Group said: “India and China are doing their fair share,” and that developing countries combined efforts to reduce green house gas emissions was more than that of the developed countries.
Durban, December 2: As the UN climate change talks enter the 5th day in Durban, tempo in the negotiation rooms is gradually picking up. While about 50 odd items are being discussed and the chairs of the different groups are trying to piece in the negotiating texts by Saturday, before the high level ministerial segment begins, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have proposed a middle-of-the-road solution to keep the climate change talks active. A draft proposal the LDCs submitted advocates a set of parallel treaties that will not only take into account emissions reduction targets for the Annex 1 parties but also for non-Kyoto parties like the United States and emerging economies like China and India.
At 1 o’clock on December 3, 2011, halfway through CoP 17, the President of CoP 17 held a plenary to take stock of the work done so far. She first thanked the delegates for the “flexibility” they’d shown so far, thus “allowing work to happen”. She was pleased to inform the plenary that work on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) had progressed a lot: indeed, today was a crucial day in the GCF negotiations, such that the Chair wasn’t able to attend the ‘informal stocktaking’, as this particular briefing has been termed. She informed that after 2 rounds of informal consultations on GCF, “a number of countries are willing to accept a report”.
At an informal meeting today between BASIC and AOSIS, the AOSIS group has reportedly given an ultimatum to BASIC, saying that it will not support BASIC unless the major economies come up with some sort of ambitious mitigation targets.
Durban, December 5: At the AWG-LCA plenary meeting held today, the divide between developed and developing countries turned to a chasm. The purpose of the meeting, called by the Chair of the AWG-LCA, was to solicit the reactions of countries to the 130-page amalgamated text circulated on Saturday. The amalgamated text now forms the basis of negotiations in this negotiating track.
"I have come to Durban with an open mind. But I would like to know whether it would be binding only for mitigation and whether it will be the same for Annex-1 and non-Annex1 countries.
Durban, December 6: Remove the firewall at all costs: this sums up what the rich countries are doing in the climate negotiations at Durban to remove the differentiation between past polluters – responsible for climate change impacts currently occurring – and the future polluters, who need ecological space to grow. This is the core of the politics at the Durban conference on climate change. The rich countries are doing all they can, in different ways, to remove this distinction, for until the distinction remains, they will have to take action first to reduce and create carbon space for the poorer countries to increase their emissions.
Durban, December 7: Today, Wedsensday 7 December, 2011, the high-level segment will discuss the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Ministers will put their wise heads together and decide the fate of the GCF, which has had quite a stormy year since its inception at the Cancun CoP in 2010. Their goal is to create what is called a ‘cover decision’ that adopts the governing instrument and puts in place an interim arrangement until the GCF is finally operational.
Durban, December 7: It is a humdinger. At 138 pages of bracketed text, and paragraph shifts, this exemplar of sharp and concise decision-making is longer than the one the Chair circulated on Saturday, December 3, 2011. Let’s look at an immediately notable ‘change’ between the two drafts, for now only in the text related to ‘A shared vision for long-term cooperative action’.
It’s that time of the year again. Climate change talks are heating up, with the next conference of parties scheduled in Durban in end-November. There is heat but no light. The negotiations are stuck despite the clear signs of climate change: dangerous and potentially catastrophic extreme weather events.
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