BALI, Indonesia--(Business Wire)--Political leaders meeting in Bali for the UN's Climate Change
Summit hammered out a deal which launches formal negotiations with a
2009 end date, but the deal falls short in its ambition, says World
Wildlife Fund.
Governments gathered in Bali for the most important climate talks
in a decade to put on track a future treaty that would cut developed
countries' emissions 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. The
findings of the IPCC's 4th Assessment Report, awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize this year, shows clearly that to keep the world below 2 degrees
C warming compared with pre-industrial times, global emissions need to
peak and decline before 2020.
During an emotional showdown in the final hours of the 15-day
meeting, the US delegation, under intense public pressure, decided to
join in the global talks. The price of US participation, however, was
a deal weak on substance.
"The US administration was asked to get out of the way, and in the
end they bowed to pressure," says Hans Verolme, Director of WWF's
Global Climate Change Program. "The Bali Roadmap leaves a seat at the
table for the next US president to make a real contribution to the
global fight to stop dangerous climate change."
Over the next two years, industrialized countries need to agree to
deep emission cuts, and to leverage new funding and support for
technology transfer, finance and adaptation. The EU and leading
developing countries such as Brazil, China and South Africa will have
to propose a workplan for this two-year negotiation marathon. These
talks will have to make up for Bali's shortcomings.
On some of the practical building blocks of a future climate
change regime, good progress has been made: technology transfer has
been given appropriate attention, including technologies for
mitigation and adaptation as well as financial incentives. The
Adaptation Fund has finally been implemented but additional financing
and technical support for the poorest countries will have to be
created.
The commitment to address tropical deforestation, also known as
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD), is
another building block in the Bali Roadmap. Governments have
recognized that 20 percent of emissions are from forest loss, and they
now have two years to nail down the rules on how REDD will be
implemented.
"A strong, well-funded REDD mechanism will enable tropical forest
countries to develop their economies without destroying their forests.
In doing so, they will make a real contribution to mitigating global
climate change," says Rodney Taylor, Director of WWF's Global Forest
Program. "The mechanism must include safeguards to ensure that REDD
projects benefit forest-dependent people and conserve biodiversity."
WWF
Media
Brian Thomson (English, French, Italian)
+62813-1808-5548
bthomson@wwfint.org
or
Martin Hiller (English, German, French)
+62813-1875-9492
mhiller@wwfint.org
or
Verena Puspawardani (English, Bahasa Indonesia)
+62818-897-383
vpuspawardani@wwf.or.id
or
Mariana Ramos (Portuguese, English, Spanish)
+62813-1860-2114
marianaramos@wwf.org.br
or
Leslie Aun (English)
+1703517-4550
leslie.aun@wwfus.org
or
Cai Tao (Mandarin, English)
+62813-1860-2135
tcai@wwfchina.org
or
Masako Konishi (Japanese, English)
+62-813-1860-2118
konishi@wwf.or.jp
or
Ulrike Hellmessen (German, English)
+62-813-1860-2115
hellmessen@wwf.de
or
Alexey Kokorin (Russian, English)
+62-813-186-020-96
akokorin@wwf.ru
Copyright Business Wire 2007
