South Africa would like to congratulate the government and the people of Mexico for having hosted a successful 16th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 6th Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. These climate change conferences were held from 29 November to 10 December in Cancun, Mexico.
The Mexican COP presidency’s guided a transparent process run in accordance with United Nations rules that built confidence and established an atmosphere of trust and cooperation. This is an important achievement and lays a solid basis for South Africa as the incoming President of the UNFCCC.
At the talks, South Africa, along with most other developing countries in Africa, among Small Island States and Least Developed Countries, called for a two-track legally binding outcome; where on the one hand, a track where developed countries who joined the Kyoto Protocol agree to a 2nd Commitment Period under the Protocol. Whilst, on the other hand, a second track where developed countries who did not join the Kyoto Protocol, will take comparable commitments under the Convention with the collective effort of all developed countries adding up to a level of ambition required by science (a 25 to 40 percent aggregate reduction from 1990 levels by 2020).
Under this second track, developing countries would also contribute to the global solution to the climate crisis, where their climate action will be provided with finance, technology and capacity building support. While some progress was achieved in relation to how developed country mitigation targets are reflected, in Cancun there was no agreement on a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. Further negotiations on this matter will be forwarded for decision to the Climate Change Conference in Durban next year.
Never the less, the adoption of the Cancun agreement was a extraordinary achievement which has preserved the possibility for a two-track legally binding outcome. Firstly, developed countries agreed to continue work on a 2nd commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
While secondly, all countries agreed to list their commitments or actions, together with an outline of the major building blocks for a future multi-lateral climate change regime. All credit must go to the Minister Espinosa as the Mexican COP President for her great leadership and her ability to build consensus between nations with vastly differing positions.
The Cancun Climate Change Conferences delivered a remarkably detailed outcome covering all the main elements of the two-track outcome as agreed to in the 2007 Bali Road Map mandate. In this regard, COP 16 has reinvigorated the multilateral process by reflecting the political will of the international community to seriously and urgently address the climate change crisis. The Cancun agreement is formulated as a set of decisions under both the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.
In summary, the Cancun agreement decisions have three types of outcomes:
- Firstly, capturing and reflecting agreement that has been reached in the negotiations since the 2007 Bali Climate Change Conferences, including: the establishment of Global Climate Fund; agreement on a Cancun Adaptation framework and Adaptation Committee; the establishment of a technology mechanism; and in relation to mitigation an agreement on the way in which the pledges made in Copenhagen last year should be further elaborated for both developed and developing countries and the establishment of a registry to match mitigation actions with financial, technology and capacity building support
- Secondly, where necessary, the Cancun decisions set up a process to elaborate the governance and operational modalities and or procedures of the agreed building blocks; such as the process needed to flesh out the details of how the Green Climate Fund or the Adaptation Committee would be governed and operate
- Thirdly, for elements that do not yet have full agreement among Parties, to forward these for further work to either the negotiating Ad-Hoc Working Groups or the other Subsidiary Bodies of the UNFCCC.
Despite the above progress, the Cancun outcome was not able to answer many difficult political questions and these have been forwarded to the COP17/CMP7 Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa for further work.
Most obviously, Cancun was unable to address the politically difficult question of the legal form of the final outcome of the negotiations in the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperation (AWGLCA) under the Convention, which then calls into question whether or not it will be possible to reach an agreement on the second track of a Second Commitment Period under the Kyoto Protocol.
South Africa has an immense amount of work to do in order to move forward from Cancun to Durban. Our challenge is to address the unresolved issues while at the same time ensuring that the agreements made in Cancun are further developed and elaborated. It was heartening to note the way that the Mexican government and people used the opportunity of the climate change conference process as a means to showcase their country and the work they are doing.
We also intend to showcase our country and the work we are doing on climate change and sustainable development more broadly, when we host the COP17/CMP7 Climate Change Conference in Durban, in December next year. To this end, starting in January, governmentwill launch a comprehensive consultation programme that will include all stakeholders and will develop a shared vision for the Durban Climate Change Conference and a work programme that will ensure our hosting will be a truly team South Africa occasion.
