(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean negotiators have come out of the first round of negotiations on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Text of the draft Declaration for a New Climate Change Agreement very optimistic that significant common understanding has been built to facilitate the negotiations, when the UN Conference of Parties (COP 15) meet in Copenhagen in December.
Over the past two weeks, 1-12 June, 2009 CARICOM negotiators joined their counterparts of the United Nations Member States at a meeting in Bonn, Germany to initiate negotiations on the draft document for a New Global Climate Change Agreement which will be finalized in December at the UN Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen Denmark, 7-18 December 2009.
The issue of Climate Change, including the outcomes of the Bonn meeting, in addition to final preparations for COP 15, will be one of the major issues for discussion when Heads of Government meet in Guyana on 2-5 July 2009.
The negotiating Text of the draft Declaration will be addressed further at another round of negotiations in Bonn, Germany in August, 2009 and discussed at the UN Special Session on Climate Change in September 2009 resulting from decisions taken in Bonn at several parallel sessions, contact and working groups and subsidiary bodies.
Representatives from the Caribbean led the discussions on a range of issues by acting as facilitators for four of the important groups and bodies of the Convention: the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI), the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, the Nairobi Work Programme and the Longer-term aspects of international climate change cooperation. In addition, the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations, Ambassador John Ashe was elected to serve as the Chair of the important working group reviewing the Kyoto Protocol.
Two readings of the draft Text provided the opportunity for the Caribbean representatives to address regional concerns. It was also reported that progress had been in relation to global requirements for stabilising Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and on reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD).
With respect to a carbon tax being advocated by Guyana’s President H.E. Bharrat Jagdeo, it was agreed that Belize and Guyana would be working along with other like-minded parties to formulate a coherent response on the REDD plus initiative.
Despite the positive note on which the negotiations ended however, it was understood that there were still some gaps to be addressed, chief among which are the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol on emissions reduction where the developed countries or Annex I Parties’ are yet to agree with the developing countries on emission reductions levels proposed for 2012. There are also the outstanding issues on land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) that remain unresolved.
