INLSA
Alf Wills
Tony Carnie
WITH just six days to go before the UN 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) climate change conference, South African chief negotiator Alf Wills has ruled out any possibility of a “big bang” climate protection deal coming out of the Durban talks.
Instead, the focus would be on a slow “piece by piece” process to resolve long-standing political differences between the US, EU and major developing nations such as China and India.
Wills was speaking at a media briefing in the host city yesterday on preparations for the annual climate talks.
Environment Minister Edna Molewa, who will lead the South African government delegation at the meeting, acknowledged that several of the most contentious political issues had been left unresolved at the last two meetings in Denmark and Mexico, and these issues would be back on the table in Durban.
“We know that we won’t be able to complete all of them in Durban,” she said, although it might be possible to initiate some progress for the benefit of those nations which would host the COP18 and COP19 meetings.
Artist Warren Raysdorf paints a message on the Kolling Street wall of Greyville School in Durban, with permission from its principal, ahead of the climate talks. Similar paintings of the phrase are being done in other countries. Picture: Marilyn Bernard
INLSA
Responding to questions on the reasons for the political stalemate, Wills said there had been a lot of “hype” before the meeting in Copenhagen two years ago.
“There was an expectation of a big bang, with a new deal. What has become apparent since then is the need to build piece by piece… So it’s not about simply deferring things to the next meeting.”
There was also no agreement yet on the legal form of a new global climate agreement.
“It is going to be very contentious because one of the EU demands is that once the architecture is finalised, then it should be a legal agreement.
“The US finds it very difficult to agree to that, given their domestic political circumstances, and this created some caution with China and India, which are looking for assurances of a legally binding agreement. So it does point to the fact that the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is at risk.”
Responding to media reports that the National Treasury had failed to allocate sufficient funds to finance the Durban talks, Environmental Affairs Department director-general Nozipho Ngcaba confirmed that COP17 was “not fully funded”.
Ngcaba did not specify the exact financial shortfall, but said the government would have to look at “creative ways of funding”, such as sharing the shortfall with other government departments, with KwaZulu-Natal and the host municipality.
Earlier this week, Business Day reported that the Treasury had only agreed to provide R310 million of the R400m requested by the International Relations and Co-Operation Department, leaving a shortfall of at least R90m for this department.
It is understood that another R120m had been allocated to the sister Environmental Affairs Department for COP17 expenditure.
Last week, eThekwini city manager Mike Sutcliffe confirmed that the municipality had also budgeted to spend about R50m on the two-week event, but it remains unclear whether eThekwini ratepayers will now be asked to cough up more to cover the expected shortfalls. 8P10
