Affairs and Tourism, delivered at the High-Level Climate Change event at the
United Nations, New York
24 September 2007
Mitigation Plenary
Co-chairs
On behalf of South Africa I would like to thank the Secretary General for
creating this opportunity to reflect on ways of urgently advancing the
multilateral negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol. The science is clear. Climate
change is a fact, and delaying climate action will hit poor countries and
communities hardest. The economic case for action is simple: the costs of
inaction far outweigh the costs of action and early action costs less.
With the scientific and economic case so clearly made, we have to reach
agreement, by the end of 2009, on a fair, effective, flexible and inclusive
framework that builds on the existing climate regime and the established
principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities.' To this end, when we
meet in Bali at the end of this year, we must agree to a Road Map for
negotiations for the next two years.
Though countries have different responsibilities, we have a common
responsibility to act in accordance with our respective national capabilities.
Moving forward will therefore require participation by all developed countries
under the Kyoto track and the conversion of the key issues that emerged in the
Convention Dialogue into meaningful negotiations for enhanced and incentivise
developing country action.
Ultimately, political consensus by 2009 will depend on a package deal that
balances the key interests and concerns of all parties. The starting point must
be equity. A core balance between sustainable development and climate
imperatives and between historical responsibility for the problem and taking
responsibility for the future will have to be the basis of any agreement. It
must be flexible enough to accommodate country-specific aspects. And it must be
inclusive.
Women and children are particularly vulnerable in the face of the
devastating impacts of climate change. For South Africa the mainstreaming of
gender and youth in climate policy, decision-making and implementation, is
therefore a crosscutting priority. Co-chairs, in designing a strengthened
regime we should focus our efforts on five key building blocks. These are
adaptation, mitigation, dealing with the unintended consequences of response
measures, technology development, diffusion and commercialisation, and
financing and investment.
If an equitable balance is not achieved, or a building block is left out, it
will be very difficult to reach an agreement by 2009.
Turning to the theme of this plenary, it is clear that there are three
mitigation strands that have to be woven into one multilateral framework.
* Firstly, more ambitious and quantified emission reduction targets for all
developed countries under the Kyoto Protocol.
* Secondly, re-engagement of the United States of America (USA) and Australia
in the full multilateral process and binding emission reductions.
* Thirdly, recognition of and incentives for enhanced mitigation action by
developing countries.
The global leadership required from developed countries is well defined in
the Convention and Protocol. Carbon markets will be a key element. To fuel
demand in the carbon market, deeper emission cuts based on ambitious mid-term
targets for all developed countries will be required. Linked to the creative
development of market-based instruments on the supply side, this will support
developing countries to do more.
On the part of developing countries, building on our existing contributions,
a range of measurable actions could be undertaken. In addition to participation
in up-scaled clean development mechanism (CDM) activities, this could include
sustainable development policies and measures (SD PAMS), or reducing emissions
from deforestation (REDD). Such measurable, reportable and verifiable policies
and measures would have to be supported by technology and should be enabled by
financing and investment.
In the adaptation area of work, South Africa favours an approach where
implementation goes beyond the mainstreaming of adaptive activities with
development planning. In terms of multilateral funding for adaptation, the
challenge will be to up-scale the available resources with two to three orders
of magnitude, without introducing new conditionalities for, or diverting
existing overseas development assistance away from the urgent development and
poverty reduction challenges faced by developing countries.
Co-chairs, in summary, achieving a balance between climate stabilisation and
sustainable development is essentially in the hands of developed countries. The
trigger to strengthen the regime must come from the north. Full participation
by the world's largest historical emitter, the United States (US), is a
prerequisite.
Likewise, a credible and substantive offer from developed countries to
address development and distributional issues in the future climate regime will
be required. This will create the necessary trust and incentives to conclude,
by 2009, negotiations on a fair, effective, flexible and inclusive climate
regime after 2012.
In Bali we must lay the foundations for an agreement that will enable future
generations to look back and know that we understood the gravity of the problem
at hand and that we turned talk into action and discussions into
negotiations.
Enquiries:
Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923
Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
24 September 2007
