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Del.icio.usby Dan Shepard, Information Officer, UN DPI
It was one day late but countries achieved a major breakthrough on international climate change action at 2:31pm Bali time on Saturday. It was not without high drama featuring plenty of twists and turns along the way on a day when many delegates had planned to catch flights home.
It even took the special intervention of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to exhort delegates to complete what seemed like hopelessly deadlocked talks.
Yodhoyono called on countries to complete "the most difficult mile," of an "exhaustive marathon." He told delegates that we could not allow "the human race and the planet to crumble because we cannot find the right words."
The Secretary-General, who returned to Bali after a visit to Timor-Leste, said he was reluctant to speak again to the conference but that he was disappointed in the progress that had been made. "The hour is late. It is time to make a decision." He appealed to delegates not to "risk everything you have achieved so far."
After a morning of false starts and false hopes, mis-communications and misunderstandings, countries agreed on a roadmap to launch negotiations toward a global, comprehensive agreement to address climate change. The Bali decision sets out an agenda that frames the discussions that will take place over the next two years and sets a deadline of 2009 to complete the negotiations.
After agreement was reached, the Secretary-General issued a statement strongly welcoming the outcome and saying that the Bali Roadmap achieved all three of the main objectives. "The Bali Roadmap that has been agreed is a pivotal first step toward an agreement that can address the threat of climate change, the defining challenge of our time."
But the agreement did not come painlessly. On a key provision, concerning the obligations of developing countries in the future negotiations, India, speaking for developing countries, said that alternate wording had been agreed to during the night. And then Bangladesh said that language concerning the least developed countries and small island states had been omitted. The Philippines said the phrase "on the basis of equity" had been omitted. And then the United States said it could not accept the formulation that was put forward but offered to keep working until an agreement could be found.
Then South Africa, responding to the US, said developing countries had voluntarily moved to accept new obligations for their national actions on climate change that were "measurable, reportable and verifiable," a concession that only a year ago, he said, "would have been unthinkable." South Africa asked the US to reconsider its position.
Then an avalanche of countries took the floor in support of the developing country position, many asking the US to state their reservations separately and not block a consensus.
US Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky took the floor again and said the US wanted a roadmap and wanted to be part of the roadmap.
"We are very committed to long-term greenhouse gas emission reductions," and she said the US would work with other large emitters to halve global emissions by 2050. And then she said the US "will go forward and join the consensus," which was followed by a thunderous ovation.
"It feels like we are in a movie with lots of plots," said the delegate from Egypt.
After full adoption by the plenary, countries thanked the US for joining the consensus and thanked the secretariat of the Climate Change Convention and the Indonesian government for hosting the Conference.
Digg | Del.icio.usby Dan Shepard, Information Officer, UN DPI
There might have been snow and sleet in New York today, but looking casual and relaxed, New York City Mayor Bloomberg came to the Bali Climate Conference to sign a pledge by world mayors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050. London Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron joined Bloomberg in signing the pledge.
Bringing a taste of New York to Bali, Bloomberg said people like to leave conferences with real deliverables. He called said in the "real world," processes "that change the world evolutionary rather than revolutionary," and says cities were already taking major strides forward to deal with the issue. It is important that people around the world see that governments understand that there is an issue and a healthy debate about what to do to solve the problems and who will pay and how fast to do it and what order to do it is part of the process that will lead us in the right direction."
Mayors, he adds, are the one who are held accountable to their public everyday on a wide range of issues, from improving public health and encouraging economic growth. As a result, Bloomberg says, cities should be given more say in a convention like this because in the end we're the ones for most of the changes that will actually have to do the work.
Digg | Del.icio.usby Dan Shepard, Information Officer, UN DPI
The big question today is when the Bali conference will finish. And how it will conclude. The negotiations went deep into the night, or morning, on Thursday, and few people actually expect things to wrap up before Saturday morning.
There's not too much news right now. There are new meetings of ministers, and then there smaller groups, "friends of the chair" groups and somehow this is supposed to sort itself out -- but by when? There are questions over how long the conference can actually continue, when ministers have booked flights home, and how long the conference facility will be available.
Digg | Del.icio.usby Dan Shepard, Information Officer, UN DPI
It's not enough just to talk about climate change. The UN, which has been at the forefront of pushing the issue at the international level, announced that it was going green in Bali. The Secretary-General said, "We will lead by example, by moving towards carbon neutrality throughout the UN System."
Some 20 UN agencies, funds and programmes joined together -- something that UNEP head Achim Steiner noted is difficult to begin with -- to offset the emissions caused by their travel to Bali, including the emissions caused by the travel of this writer. The carbon offsets will be accomplished by buying certified emission credits from the newly operational Adaptation Fund. The greening effort will go beyond Bali, and the UN system is working on a number of ways to make its operations climate-neutral and Norway is providing $820,000 for that effort.
Some countries are already on the road to becoming climate neutral, with Norway aiming for 2050, Costa Rica planning to be climate neutral by 2021, its 200th anniversary of independence, and New Zealand shooting for a 2025 goal of generating 90 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources.
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