COP17 Durban Climate Conference Nov 20-21
25th November 2011,
ANC Youth League threat | Adaptation funding promises shortfall | CDM Board meeting prospects | Caravan of Hope in Zambia
11:27am GMT, 20 Nov update from Adam Groves
According to sources within the ANC Youth League, its recently suspended leader, Julius Malema, is planning to humiliate Jacob Zuma on the world stage by disrupting the climate change talks. Reports suggest that the firebrand South African politician will bus supporters to the conference centre. With the former President of Costa Rica last week calling for an #OccupyDurban movement, and with climate justice activists also set to descend on the talks, the city faces an interesting few weeks ahead.
6:41pm GMT, 21 Nov update from Bill Gunyon
Today has seen a lot of pointing at the Guardian headline: "Rich nations give up on new climate treaty until 2020."
Well, they can't get away with that line on climate finance. The promise to build from current levels of support towards $100 billion per annum by 2020 is there in the Cancun agreements. Everyone signed up, including US.
Finance will one of the big stories in Durban. The rich countries cannot do nothing. There's no wriggle room, short of outright default.
The UK-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) fired off an opening salvo today with its briefing on Adaptation Finance. It carefully identifies five areas of commitment to assist poorer countries in adapting to climate change, not one of which has yet been fulfilled.
It mentions the tendency for donors to offer support in loans rather than grants. On Friday the Bretton Woods Project issued a strongly worded attack on the World Bank's Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience. A Nepal case study is described as "simply an injustice" for loading up debt on a country especially vulnerable to global warming.
The IIED study calls for greater transparency through a new funding register, concluding:
climate finance has been poorly reported and impossible to track and verify
In fairness the UN Secretariat has not been idle. Its new Fast-Start Finance Portal was launched on Friday.
8:20pm GMT, 21 Nov update from Bill Gunyon
Serious business is already under way in Durban in the shape of the Executive Board meeting of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This is the body that awards "certified emission reduction" credits for energy efficient projects in developing countries. These "UN credits" are fed into the carbon trading markets active mainly in Europe.
The Board meeting goes on all week and will cover some controversial items. Our Nov 14th post explained how the Board's own advisers recommend that coal-fired power projects should no longer be approved. And similar recommendations exist for projects which replace hydrofluorocarbons, a potent greenhouse gas.
China and India stand to lose massive proceeds if these recommendations are upheld. And the carbon traders are hanging on every word (perhaps via the webcast of the meeting) because a reduction in supply of credits on this scale will affect market prices.
This is one of the interesting subplots to be played out in the Durban talks. The CDM is an instrument of the Kyoto Protocol. A lot of interests from richer countries are the contradictory position of wishing the end of the Protocol but continuation of the CDM.
10:15pm GMT, 21 Nov update from Bill Gunyon
An extraordinary journey for climate justice is under way across the continent which bears witness to that cause with increasing unity. This Jarrow March of climate change, called The Caravan of Hope , is organised by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance . It will cross ten sub-Saharan countries on its way to Durban, inspiring awareness and backing for its ambitions which include:
an international climate change treaty that is responsive to the continent’s realities and reality to science
Various bloggers on the trip are doing their best to get their stories out to those of us sitting comfortably with grid-powered computers and broadband.
The Caravan was in Zambia over the weekend and ActionAid has reported on the reception - the photo below shows the Zambian Minister of Local Government and Environmental Protection, Nkandu Luo, who will be at the Durban talks. It was no surprise to read that the maize harvest is in trouble from lack of rains. OneWorld's Zambia Climate Change briefing refers to the rising incidence of drought.
The Caravan should have crossed into Zimbabwe by now, presumably across the border at the Victoria Falls. I'll watch out for photos showing the volume of the Falls, one indicator of potential drought problems in the region.
Image by ActionAid
