Ki-Moon Demands Deliverables from the Climate Meeting in Doha
By Henry Neondo
DOHA---The UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Wednesday urged the developed countries to give clear indications that scaled-up climate financing will flow after 2012, and that it will be commensurate to the goal of mobilizing $100 billion dollars a year by 2020 from public and private funding to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
Speaking while opening the 18th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Doha, Qatar, Ban said the long-term climate finance deal, is key as it will support mitigation and adaptation by developing countries -- including the Green Climate Fund and the Climate Technology Centre and Network -- are fully equipped and effective.
But the fast-start finance ends soon.
Ki-Moon asked all government parties to demonstrate, with no ambiguity, how they intend to act on the gap between mitigation pledges and what is required to achieve the 2 degrees target.
“Developed countries must deliver,” he said.
Taking a cue from calls by the civil societies clamouring for a fair climate deal, Ki-Moon said the Kyoto Protocol remains the closest we have to a global, binding climate agreement.
“It is a foundation to build on. It has important institutions, including accounting and legal systems, and the framework that markets sorely need,” he said.
Ki-Moon said the continuation of Kyoto Protocol on 1 January 2013 would show that governments remain committed to a more robust climate regime.
“This is critical to a meaningful climate agreement,” he said adding that the governments delegations in Doha must ensure that the world stays on track for an effective, fair, ambitious and universal climate agreement by 2015.
Ki-Moon said climate change is a threat to humanity, economies, security and the well-being of the future generation. “Climate change is a crisis, and the danger signs are all around. One-third of the world’s population lives in countries with moderate to high water stress. Land degradation affects 1.5 billion people. Icecaps are showing unprecedented melting; permafrost is thawing; sea levels are rising. The abnormal is now the new normal,” he said.
Citing the recent hurricanes, Ki-Moon said this year alone, the world has witnessed major metropolis like the Manhattan and Beijing under water.
“Hundreds of thousands of people washed from their homes in Mozambique; Nigeria; Colombia; Peru, the Philippines; Australia...From the United States to India, from Ukraine to Brazil, drought decimated essential global crops,” he said.
He added that across the Sahel, from Mali to the Horn of Africa, tens of millions of people endured another year of vulnerability, at the mercy of the slightest climate shock.
“No-one is immune to climate change -- rich or poor,” he warned.
He said climate change is an existential challenge for the whole human race – in the way of life, and plans for the future.
“We must take ownership. We, collectively, are the problem. Then we should have the solutions,” he said.
Sounding the alarm, Ki-Moon said Greenhouse gas emissions are the highest they have ever been.
“We are in a race against time to stay below the agreed threshold of 2 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels that will avoid the worst impacts of climate change,” said Ki-Moon.
Just this month, reports from UNEP, WMO and the World Bank again drew attention to the growing dangers.
“That is why it is imperative that we act now, with urgency and with clear purpose – both in these negotiations and in our countries, our cities, our businesses, our homes,” he said.
While lauding efforts by many nations already initiating policies and actions into a sustainable clean energy future, Ki-Moon nevertheless asserted that the pace and scale of action does not measure up.
“We have a responsibility here in Doha to sustain the momentum for change so painstakingly built in Bali, Poznan, Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban. Addressing climate change is essential to sustainable development. And your work is essential for addressing climate change, he told the audience.
Ki-Moon urged all Parties in the UNFCCC to work with a spirit of compromise – to deliver on the adoption of a ratifiable second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, a key demand by the African civil society groups clamouring for a just climate deal.