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Doubts linger in Bangkok climate talks

Though world leaders have trumpeted helpful tips in dealing with climate change, doubt remains on whether delegates will be able to translate them into formal text on a new climate pact during talks in Bangkok starting Monday

Adianto P. Simamora (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, September 28, 2009

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Doubts linger in Bangkok climate talks

T

hough world leaders have trumpeted helpful tips in dealing with climate change, doubt remains on whether delegates will be able to translate them into formal text on a new climate pact during talks in Bangkok starting Monday.

Approximately 1,500 delegates from 180 countries are to meet in Bangkok from Sept. 28 to Oct. 9, the second to last before the highly anticipated Copenhagen climate conference in December, to give details on how to protect millions of people across the planet from the severe risks of global warming.

The two-week meeting in Bangkok came after leaders from about 100 countries vowed to support a deal in Copenhagen during the UN climate summit in New York last week.

The leaders of world’s largest emitters like the United States and China have pledged to succeed the Copenhagen meeting during its G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the United States, last week.

“The question is would negotiators from rich nations be ready to pass on such commitment into formal text in Bangkok?” Indonesia’s delegate, Agus Purnomo, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

“I guess the rich nations will still try to buy time by offering alternative concepts.”

The Bangkok meeting will seek to trim down gaps in emission cut targets between rich and poor countries.

Agus said that the country’s delegation would focus on issues of deeper emission cuts, adaptation funds and the reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

“The rich nations need to ‘fill’ the bill of adaptation fund with money not only pledges,” Agus said.
President Barack Obama has vowed on tough measures to combat climate change in his speech at the UN climate summit.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said that his country would generate 15 percent of energy from renewable sources within a decade, and for the first time pledged to reduce “by a notable margin” its carbon pollution growth rate as measured against economic growth. He did not give specific targets.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also pledged to cut emissions from energy and forestry by 26 percent by 2020 during the G20 summit.

“We are devising a mixed energy policy including land use, land use change and forestry [LULUCF] that will reduce our emissions by 26 percent by 2020 from business as usual.”

Indonesia is one of the most-prone countries to climate ichange.

Program Director of climate and energy at WWF Indonesia Fitrian Ardiansyah also expressed doubt the negotiators at the Bangkok meeting could translate the positive signals from UN climate and G20 summit into draft documents of the new climate pact.

“But we will see development of Bangkok talks in the first week,” said Fitrian, who is also a member of Indonesian delegation.    

The Indonesia Civil Society Forum (ISCF) for climate justice, a forum consisting of 30 activists group including the Indonesia Forum for Environment (Walhi), People’s Coalition for Equal Fisheries (KIARA) and Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), expressed pessimism on result at the Bangkok meeting, saying many countries would still focus on the business talks of carbon trading.

“We worry the meeting will be a matter of business talks between the polluters and buyers, instead of an attempt to seek solutions to face global warming,” the forum said in its statement.

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