The world has been negotiating on climate change issues since 1995 and two millstones stand out so far: the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Both of them have similar goals and that is to lessen Green House Gas emissions.
To this end, of course, countries at various times signed agreements to cut off their Green House Gas emissions and to build green economy. In this regard some positive movements were seen in various countries like Ethiopia in terms of focusing on green energy and climate friendly practices that in so far as, of course, have been bearing encouraging results. Sources show that between the periods 2008 up to 2012, 14.5 percent of Ethiopia’s national budget was used for interventions relevant to climate adaptation and mitigation.
This national investment in climate compatible development has enabled the country to work on a range of wind and hydro based renewable energy sources among other things.
Ethiopia has been also investing billions of dollars in its railway networking alongside of other green development projects. All those investments are in line with the country’s priorities and show the Nation’s determination to contribute to the response of the wider global environment problems irrespective of little or no global climate financial supports.
However neither the effort of a single country nor the action of some others is enough to respond to the global climate change problems. That is why opening the 24th round of global climate talks here in Katowice/Poland, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres accentuated that on issues of climate change that pertains to be a global problem there has to be a global solution and action. But the question is, is the world really responding to climate change issues as per negotiations and intended outcomes? Are countries acting equally and taking thier historical pollution responsibilities? As many agree the answer is simple: not much and not yet.
The ongoing UN climate talk here in katowice/Poland is also signaling bad signs of of disagreement since the very outset of the negotiations. Despite the fact that around 200 countries are gathered here in Katowice to introduce the operational guidelines of the Paris Agreement but disagreements are looming on several important issues. This writer approached professor Shaddad Mauwa from Khartoum University, a climate activist and who is currently following the 24th climate talk in Katowice and learned that the negotiation is not going any better to the interest of Africa until now.
Professor Shaddad explained that the developed countries are showing a tendency to renegotiate the Paris agreement and showed least commitment to climate financing or other important issues which were previously agreed upon in Paris. For instance, in the Paris Agreement it is clearlely stated that the developed countries have much responsibility interms of financing the climate actions of developing countries be it adaptation or mitigation. But now the developed countries are trying to run away of this responsibility as Professor Shaddad explains. Citing the developed countries has never fulfilled their commitments either in Kyoto Protocol or other agreements; Professor shaddad urges the Africa negotiators this time to walk out of the Katowice climate talks.
This according to the Professor will pass a strong message to the developed world and he underscored that no deal is better than a bad deal. The African Civil Society Coalition Executive Director Mithika Mwenede also agrees with the ideas of professor Shaddad and he said that the developed countries are trying to reverse the Paris Agreement in the ongoing Katowice climate talk. According to Mithika, though not spoken in words but it seems that the European Union is gradually joining the US bandwagon in climate change issues and trying to track back the negotiation process.
As Mithika explained, one such attempt is manifested interms of climate financing and that is the developed countries are saying here in katowice the loand they give to the developing world and any other private investments they make in poor countries should be counted as climate financing contradicting the climate change conven tion which says climate funding should be additional and new as well as it is from public resources not from private sources. For Mithika any climate action taken by the developed world is neither a help nor a charity to Africa and it is simply paying off a historical debt, a debt to be paid for polluting the planet for over 150 years since industrial revolution.
However in the current Katowice climate talk it seems that the developed countries are not yet ready to do that. And Mohamed Naser from Egypt, currently leading the Aftican group of negotiators agree with this idea. Mohamed said in the current negotiation almost no progress is made on climate financing and he mentioned that this is not up to the commitment of countries which they forwarded in Paris Agreement.
He believes that in the ongoing negotiation, though there are issues where some progresses are gained in issues like mitigation and technology transfer but the critical part of the agreement is missed: climate finance. Of course absence of progress in climate finance at the current Katowice climate talk is also a concern for least developed countries group LDCs as well.
Chairman of the LDCs Gebru Jember from Ethiopia said that the disagreements even went further and a new idea was put forward to define the essence of climate finance, which according to Gebru is against the Paris Agreement and never accepted by the LDCs group. Noting reaching into agreement on climate finance definition is unlikely in the current climate talk, Gebru stressed that the whole climate finance negotiation is going below expectation. But whatever pressure is coming from the developed countries, Gebru explained that LDCs are and will not welcome as long as it endangers the Paris Agreement and particularly the issue of climate finance.
In previous climate change negotiations it is to be recalled that developed countries made a commitment to provide developing nations 100 billion USD a year since 2020. The money is said to be helping developing nations to adapt the effects of climate change and cut their emissions. But here in Katowice/Poland this commitment seems also compromised as delegates of US, European union and other developed countries are contending that they are not supposed to communicate how much money they would provide in the future for developing countries for adaptation and other climate change actions.
After observing the first phase of such a climate negotiation this week in Katowice/ Poland, several participants take the streets of Katowice in a protest march to express their anger about the negotiation. The protest march participants were heard of saying, “Wake up Katowice.” While climate talks are passing through such ups and downs and becomes such a more complex issue, a warning of climate catastrophe was however recently released by the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change institution IPCC.
The report made clear that the world is already seeing the consequence of one degree Celsius global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice among other things. According to the report unless the world takes the path available to limit the global warming 1.5 degree Celsius, long lasting or irreversible changes such us loss of ecosystems will happen soon. In the same report it is also indicated that if the world has to limit the global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius, it needs to cut carbon emissions by 45 percent just in 12 years time. But here again the question is, are countries ready enough to do so? The answer is more likely no. Here is an instance.
The current host of UN climate talk Poland is saying it has no intention of reducing its coal mining saying it is not against climate change actions. This is not a joke but clearly worded by the polish president Andrzej Duda at the opening of the ongoing climate talk in Katowice. With all this backdrops to take climate action by countries that have been and are polluting the planet, it seems that the worst climate catastrophes are inevitable from happening sooner than later.
The catastrophes once happened; they will definitely affect poor countries like Ethiopia which have low level of climate resilience. It is therefore Africa has to either push forward for sound climate negotiations or must prepare itself for the worst consequences of climate change problems which will be happening in the years to come.
Herald December 15/2018
BY DEMISE MEKURIYAW
