Volume 1
Global climate change and sustainable development : third report of Session 2001-02 / International Development Committee.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. International Development Committee
- Date:
- 2002
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Global climate change and sustainable development : third report of Session 2001-02 / International Development Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![climate change risk and the present exposure to climatic variability. The GEF should be strongly encouraged to develop means to fund precautionary adaptation projects that reduce the impact of present climatic variations on the most vulnerable populations.~” Eyuity in international negotiations A northern focus 79. Developed countries have contributed more to climate change while developing countries suffer the most from its consequences. Equity and social justice lie, therefore, at the heart of the climate change debate. But they have not often featured in what are northern-focused and environmentally-dominated negotiations. For example, negotiations have largely ignored adaptation, a prime concern of developing countries.” Benito Miiller, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told us that the international climate regime had focused almost exclusively on mitigation.* Negotiations had focused on reducing the burden of implementation on polluters~*’ and market mechanisms intended to reduce emissions were geared towards northern consumers and were unlikely to deliver technologies that would directly benefit the poor.*° Future negotiations could be jeopardised, unless notions of fairness and equity are adequately addressed.**” Negotiating capacity 80. Climate change does not attract the same levels of international attention as other policy issues. There is a marked imbalance between the international institutions dealing with trade and those dealing with the environment or sustainable development.” Similarly there is an imbalance in the negotiating capacity that developed and developing countries can bring to international negotiations. Benito Miiller told us that at the Bonn Conference of Parties (CoP-5), where the negotiations had continued for three days without interruption, the US had 120 official delegates while India had seven, and some countries only one.**’ Developing countries often lack the capacity or resources to play a full part in international negotiations, even to the extent of having the resources or capacity to field a team able to cope with the demands of successive all-night negotiations. It is of little surprise then that the results emerging from such negotiations do not fully address the needs or concerns of developing countries. Pooling resources in larger groupings, such as the G77 and China bloc, could help but the internal politics of such groupings sometimes undermines their effectiveness. Some funding is available to help developing countries participate in international meetings. A trust fund was established by the UNFCCC to support the participation of representatives from developing countries, especially least developed countries, small island states and economies in transition. Additional funding and programme-specific budgets were made available to support participation in workshops - and expert group meetings. This is all welcome but does little to address the huge imbalance in the negotiating and scientific capacity between north and south. We find the huge imbalance in the negotiation capacity between developed and developing countries alarming. The best way to bring about fairness and equity will be to ensure developing countries can shape and implement agreements effectively. Institutional 32D owning and Klein, Towards an International Funding Strategy for Climate Adaptation: A Contribution from Adaptation Science. A Background Paper to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility. Nairobi: STAP/GEF. Ta UNEP, 2001, UNEP Finance Initiatives Climate Change Working Group Position Paper. 35Fhuq et al, 2002, IED Opinion: Climate Change and Sustainable Development Beyond Kyoto 36Fy 145 [para 18] 2377 inkages between climate change and sustainable development, Beg et al, 2001 (submitted to Climate Policy in October 2001 revised December 2001) : “jug et al, 2002, MED Opinion: Climate Change and Sustainable Development Beyond Kyoto ~ O91](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32221356_0001_0049.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
