UNA MAGNIFICA ARGUMENTACIÓN POR QUÉ DEBE SER RECHAZADO EL ACUERDO DE COPENHAGUE, APROBADO YA POR EL GOBIERNO MEXICANO Y 126 PAISES
PAN AFRICAN CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE
Why we oppose the Copenhagen Accord
The 2010 June intercessional meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), traditionally held in Bonn every year since the
establishment of the UNFCCC will be held on May 31 June 11 2010. During these
meetings, the Global community will once more try to iron out North-South differences
that have kept at bay the prospects of building consensus on a comprehensive
framework to defeat the challenge of climate change, regarded as the biggest threat to
the survival of humanity and the planet in the 21st century. But as the Global community
gathers in Bonn for the next two weeks, fatigued and disillusioned delegates from poor
countries will be waiting for positive signals from their industrialized country
counterparts to assure them that the forthcoming climate change summit in Mexico will
deliver a truly people-driven and people-centred outcome.
The biggest threat facing the international climate change dialogue process, and more
specifically poor communities in Africa, is the controversial Copenhagen Accord, the
key outcome of the acrimonious Copenhagen climate change Summit which was held
in Denmark late last year. The Copenhagen Accord threatens Africa s future. It was the
result of an exclusive, un-transparent and undemocratic process involving around 28
countries selected by the Danish Government, which excluded over 160 countries.
Africa s position was supposed to have been defended by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
of Ethiopia. But as it turned out, the Ethiopian Prime Minister annoyed and frustrated
majority of African delegates when he departed from the common African position and
instead stood with what the industrialized countries sought to achieve in the dialogue
process. In addition to co-Chairing the UN High-level Advisory Group on Climate
Change Financing that will work to mobilize the financing promised for climate change
in Copenhagen with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Zenawi is also the AU
climate change coordinator, a position that further put into strain Africa s quest for a
unified voice ahead of Mexico.
There is no doubt that the Copenhagen Accord falls far short of the African Group
Position. It is an illegitimate document that was not mandated and ignores years of
work in the legitimate UN processes. It was not adopted by the UN, is non-binding and
has no legal standing or effect. More reasons why our governments should join us in
rejecting the Copenhagen Accord are:
The pledges included in the Accord would give rise to 3.9 C of global warming,
implying around 6 C of warming in Africa. This is nothing less than genocide.
The Accord's stated goal of 2 C is unacceptable to Africa, as it implies around 3
degrees of warming in all regions of Africa. As stated by Rev. Tutu a global goal
of about 2 C is to condemn Africa to incineration and no modern development .
The proposed review of a 1.5 C goal occurs too late to stabilize emissions at this
level.
The Accord threatens the Kyoto Protocol s legally binding targets for developed
countries. It is merely a system of voluntary and unilateral pledges that does not
include science-based aggregate target, legally binding individual targets for
industrialized countries or effective compliance. It threatens to shift the burden of
climate change to developing countries.
The Accord fails to share the atmospheric space fairly. Inadequate pledges by
Annex I countries (13-19% from 1990 levels by 2020) allow them to ignore
historical responsibility and grab a disproportionate share of the remaining
atmospheric space, denying it to Africa. This is climate colonialism. The African
Group has called for cuts of 45% by 2020.
The proposed $10 billion in short-term financing for the period 2010 to 2012 is
inadequate. This will not be new and additional to ODA. The African Group has
called for short-term financing of $400 billion, with $150 billion immediately
available as special drawing rights .
The proposal to mobilize $100 billion in longer-term financing is inadequate.
There is no commitment to provide this finance from public sources. The
amounts are insufficient to stabilize concentrations of carbon dioxide below
300ppm a goal essential to Africa s survival and prosperity. The African Group
has called for longer term financing by Annex I countries equivalent to 5% of
their GNP.
The Accord s proposed finance and technology mechanisms fail to ensure
democratic, transparent and accountable governance of finances and
technology transfer under authority of the Conference of Parties, as called for by
the G77 and China.
The Accord commits developing countries to new obligations regarding
mitigation actions, without adequate finance and technology. It imposes more
stringent emission reduction burdens on developing than developed countries.
The Accord undermines the UN process, the agreed principles of the UNFCCC and
Kyoto Protocol, especially equity and common but differentiated responsibility, and
threatens a deal under the UN that will truly safeguard Africa's future. Though many
African Governments have already identified with the Accord due to prospects of funds,
we continued to urge them to reconsider their stand so as not to lend legitimacy to a
parallel process that would undermine both the UN and Africa s interests.
The Accord, if implemented in its present form, would violate the human rights of
millions of people in Africa. Already, the Accord is being used by some industrialized
countries as a conditionality for financing climate-related projects in developing
countries. Awfully, countries which have not identified with the Accord have been
warned not to expect any finance from industrialized countries. Although the Accord is
not yet a decision of the COP, experience of last months shows that it is being made a
tool of trade by industrialized countries determined to force it into the throats of
hapless poor countries. So as not to regret in future, all countries should return to the
multilateral UN process, and build on the progress made before and during the
Copenhagen meeting on the two tracks of the negotiations to implement the UNFCCC
and its Kyoto Protocol, where the African Group is negotiating much higher levels of
ambition.
For more information, please contact:
Mithika Mwenda
Coordinator
Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)
Continental Secretariat
Madona House, 2nd Floor Rm 2G.
Westlands Road, Westlands
Nairobi, Kenya
P.O. Box 51005-00200
Tel: +254-20-4443626/7
Mobile: +254-724-403555
Email: info@pacja.org, mwemithika@yahoo.com
Skype: mithikamwenda
Web: www.pacja.org --
Miguel Valencia
ECOMUNIDADES
Red Ecologista Autónoma de la Cuenca de México
