Fund to help poor countries cope with climate crosses hurdle
Monday, 22 December 2008
Tarequl Islam Munna
A fund designed to help the poor countries, in the line of climate change, crossed a key hurdle at the UN recently, so that it could be launched next year, delegates said.
But the developing nations complained that the fund fell far short of their needs and accused the rich countries of welshing on their promises.
The agreement by ministers on the final day of the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) takes the much-heralded Adaptation Fund a major step towards launching operations.
The fund would help developing countries launch projects and build skills to shore up their defences against climate change.
Mounting temperatures, stoked by heat-trapping fossil-fuel pollution, are expected to aggravate water scarcity, raise sea levels and make storms, floods and droughts more frequent. The fund's operational start was held up by several issues.
One of them was cleared recently when the ministers of developed countries agreed with the developing countries that they should directly access the fund, rather than go through a long vetting process, said Antonio Hill of the British charity, Oxfam.
The European Union (EU) had led resistance to direct access, arguing poor scrutiny would open the way to wastage or corruption.
Awaited is the criteria by which countries would be eligible for funds. Which branch of national governments is accountable for administering the money remains to be identified, said Hill.
The multi-million dollar Adaptation Fund and carbon credits worth around $55 million were derived from two per cent Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) levy, a key component of the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol.
Under the CDM, rich countries which have ratified Kyoto -- the United States is the sole holdout -- can gain credits from projects that reduce or avert greenhouse-gas emissions in poor countries. The credits can be sold or offset against the country's Kyoto's emissions cap.
According to the most optimistic estimates, CDM revenue to the Fund could reach $300 million a year by 2012, when the Protocol's current provisions expire.
Developing countries say the needs for adaptation will be in the tens of billions of dollars a year, and funds from government sources are bound to fall badly short.
They pushed hard in Poznan for Kyoto's provisions to be overhauled so the revenue stream is drawn from two other Kyoto market mechanisms.
One is from the Joint Implementation (JI) scheme -- similar to the CDM, but for low-carbon projects in the former Soviet bloc -- and from the emissions trading scheme. The EU, though, said it was premature to make this move.
Poorer countries accused industrialised countries of a copout that boded ill for the efforts, agreed in Poznan, to complete a new treaty on climate change in Copenhagen in December 2009.
"In the face of the unbearable human tragedy that we in the developing countries see unfolding every day, this is nothing but callousness, strategising and obfuscation," said India's delegate, Prodipto Ghosh.
"At this moment, I think, we can all see clearly what lies ahead at Copenhagen," he said.
Barry Coates of the British charity, Oxfam said the glaring question of how to raise the money to coping with the impacts of climate change remained unresolved.
"The elephant in the room is still where the money for adaptation is going to come from. We urgently need a decision on increased future funding for adaptation, but we didn't get there."
(The writer a journalist, columnist and conservator, on behalf of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) can be reached at E-mail: munna_tareq@yahoo.com)
A fund designed to help the poor countries, in the line of climate change, crossed a key hurdle at the UN recently, so that it could be launched next year, delegates said.
But the developing nations complained that the fund fell far short of their needs and accused the rich countries of welshing on their promises.
The agreement by ministers on the final day of the negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) takes the much-heralded Adaptation Fund a major step towards launching operations.
The fund would help developing countries launch projects and build skills to shore up their defences against climate change.
Mounting temperatures, stoked by heat-trapping fossil-fuel pollution, are expected to aggravate water scarcity, raise sea levels and make storms, floods and droughts more frequent. The fund's operational start was held up by several issues.
One of them was cleared recently when the ministers of developed countries agreed with the developing countries that they should directly access the fund, rather than go through a long vetting process, said Antonio Hill of the British charity, Oxfam.
The European Union (EU) had led resistance to direct access, arguing poor scrutiny would open the way to wastage or corruption.
Awaited is the criteria by which countries would be eligible for funds. Which branch of national governments is accountable for administering the money remains to be identified, said Hill.
The multi-million dollar Adaptation Fund and carbon credits worth around $55 million were derived from two per cent Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) levy, a key component of the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol.
Under the CDM, rich countries which have ratified Kyoto -- the United States is the sole holdout -- can gain credits from projects that reduce or avert greenhouse-gas emissions in poor countries. The credits can be sold or offset against the country's Kyoto's emissions cap.
According to the most optimistic estimates, CDM revenue to the Fund could reach $300 million a year by 2012, when the Protocol's current provisions expire.
Developing countries say the needs for adaptation will be in the tens of billions of dollars a year, and funds from government sources are bound to fall badly short.
They pushed hard in Poznan for Kyoto's provisions to be overhauled so the revenue stream is drawn from two other Kyoto market mechanisms.
One is from the Joint Implementation (JI) scheme -- similar to the CDM, but for low-carbon projects in the former Soviet bloc -- and from the emissions trading scheme. The EU, though, said it was premature to make this move.
Poorer countries accused industrialised countries of a copout that boded ill for the efforts, agreed in Poznan, to complete a new treaty on climate change in Copenhagen in December 2009.
"In the face of the unbearable human tragedy that we in the developing countries see unfolding every day, this is nothing but callousness, strategising and obfuscation," said India's delegate, Prodipto Ghosh.
"At this moment, I think, we can all see clearly what lies ahead at Copenhagen," he said.
Barry Coates of the British charity, Oxfam said the glaring question of how to raise the money to coping with the impacts of climate change remained unresolved.
"The elephant in the room is still where the money for adaptation is going to come from. We urgently need a decision on increased future funding for adaptation, but we didn't get there."
(The writer a journalist, columnist and conservator, on behalf of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) can be reached at E-mail: munna_tareq@yahoo.com)