Bali failure stares global climate change talks

The global climate change talks, the latest round of which started yesterday at Poznan in Poland under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), are already confronting first of their failures since the participating countries chalked out the Bali roadmap in December 2007.

The Adaptation Fund launched by the UNFCCC following the talks at Bali is yet to be operationalised and this has been one of the criticisms raised at the conference, mainly by the 178-member Global Environment Facility, an independent group of governments, NGOs and private sector, delegates from India say.

The delegates see finances emerging as one of the key issues at the conference, especially in the context of recession. The other key issue would be whether developed countries or Annex 1 countries, which are signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, agree to bring down their emissions of six greenhouse gases by 25 per cent to 40 per cent (1990 levels) in two decades.

The issue of funds for adaptation and mitigation is also on the agenda of the Indian delegation, some of whose members are already in Poznan.

According to the environment ministry, the government already spends 2 per cent of its GDP on adaptation or measures to protect people from the impact of climate change. It has said it would be pressing for additional financial assistance.

Meanwhile, several strategies have been proposed by different interest groups to raise money for adaptation with the demand for a global carbon tax being supported by many countries.

Switzerland introduced a carbon tax this year to meet its Kyoto objectives and has been asking other countries, including India, to follow suit.

Switzerland has been partnering Indian NGOs like the MS Swaminathan Foundation to carry out adaptation projects in different parts of the country in order to set up models for empowering communities against the impact of climate change.

A team of Swiss officials taking part in these projects recently also advocated repackaging the ODA funds, a matter that has been opposed by India as well as many poor countries. Othmar Schwank, who heads the Swiss government’s team, preparing an action plan for repackaging ODA funds for adaptation purposes, told Business Standard that it was not going to take away money meant for development goals as adaptation itself meant interventions to help development.