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Indonesia rejects Japan proposal
Indonesia rejected a proposal by Japan that developing countries agree to legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said
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ndonesia rejected a proposal by Japan that developing countries agree to legally binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for a post-Kyoto Protocol agreement, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said.
Japan’s proposal, criticized by many countries as “Tokyo wants to kill Kyoto”, was issued at a bilateral meeting with two deputy ministers of Japan on the sidelines of the Cancun talks, which end Friday.
“Japan asked Indonesia to agree to a binding target after Kyoto. We rejected it,” Gusti, who arrived in Cancun on Tuesday, said.
He added that it was the responsibility of developed nations to reduce emissions, while developing countries could only do so on a voluntary basis.
“I remind Japan of Kyoto’s principle of common but differentiated responsibility. This should be the basis for second commitment talks,” Gusti said.
The Kyoto Protocol, agreed in Japan in 1987, stipulated that 38 developed nations reduce emissions
by 5 percent by 2012.
The second commitment target should be drafted before the 2012 deadline, with climate experts proposing emissions reductions of between 25 percent and 40 percent.
However, only Norway has publicly stated its commitment to cut emissions by 40 percent.
Observers predict that the Cancun climate talks would end in deadlock because of proposals by developed nations that legally binding emission cuts not be quantified both for a post-Kyoto commitment and for long-term targets by 2020.
Japanese delegates to the talks have openly stated their position to not extend their commitments to the second period if China, India and Brazil did not agree to legally binding cuts.
Indonesia tried to broker a deal for developing countries to also reduce emissions on a voluntary basis, with Jakarta pledging to voluntarily slash 26 percent of forestry-based emissions by 2020 under its own steam and by 41 percent if developed nations provided financial incentives.
Indonesia is the first developing country to agree to voluntary cuts, with many developing countries reportedly less than pleased with Indonesia’s move.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged world governments to tackle climate change.
“We are still not rising to the challenge,” he said.
The executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, pleaded with ministers to deliver results in Cancun.
“Your task is to reach conciliation in a balanced manner on all outstanding elements of the Bali Road Map, including conciliation on the future of the Kyoto Protocol and its mechanisms and on avoiding a gap beyond 2012,” she said.
“I know that in many areas, you are already exploring beyond your national positions. In other areas, less so. If you find your national position is in opposition to that of others, don’t ask for compromise — think of our common planet, and offer the compromise first.”
