Tag: SBI

[Human Rights] in the CDM

Submitted by MBrockley on

 

After this weekend’s CDM reform workshop, ECO has new hope for the CDM’s ability to address human rights. For the first time in the history of the CDM, Parties had an open dialogue about the impacts of CDM on human rights. It is important to recall that Parties agreed to “fully respect human rights in all climate change related actions.” The review of the CDM Modalities and Procedures provides a critical opportunity for the CDM to make this a reality. 

A case in point…The Barro Blanco project is a hydroelectric dam that is currently under construction on the Tabasará River in western Panama. Once completed, the dam is projected to flood homes, schools, and religious, historical and cultural sites in Ngäbe indigenous territories, threatening the Ngäbe’s cultural heritage. In addition, the dam will transform the Tabasará River – critical to the Ngäbe’s physical, cultural, and economic survival – from a flowing river to a stagnant lake ecosystem. This will severely affect the Ngäbe’s lands and means of subsistence, and result in the forced relocation of many families.

CDM rules require investors to consult with local stakeholders and to take their comments into account during the registration process. However, the company did not consult the Ngäbe communities regarding the Barro Blanco project and its impacts. In February 2011, the Ngäbe, in collaboration with civil society groups, submitted comments to the CDM Executive Board. The comments documented the Ngäbe’s concerns, in particular the fact that the Ngäbe were not given notice of the consultation process and were never consulted. Despite concrete evidence that the Barro Blanco project violated CDM rules on stakeholder consultation, in 2011, the CDM Executive Board registered the Barro Blanco as a CDM project. 

Now that Barro Blanco has been registered, there is no process that allows the Ngäbe to raise their concerns regarding the project’s social and environmental impacts. Over the past two years, the SBI has been negotiating an appeals procedure that would allow stakeholders to challenge registration decisions under the CDM. However, ECO is dismayed that, as discussions currently stand, this procedure would not provide a means of recourse for affected communities once a project is under construction or operational.

More than 6,500 projects are registered under the CDM, and these projects will be operational for many years to come. ECO calls on Parties to revise the CDM Modalities and Procedures to: establish international safeguards to protect human rights; strengthen requirements on how to conduct local stakeholder consultations; establish a grievance process that allows affected peoples and communities to raise concerns about harms associated with CDM projects; and develop a process to deregister projects where there are violations of CDM rules.

To learn more, join us at a side event on CDM and human rights TODAY at 6:30 pm in Room Solar. You will meet on Monday at 6:30 pm, wWeni Bakama, a Ngäbe activist, and other panelists who will discuss how we can integrate human rights protections in the CDM.

Tags: 
SBI
CDM reform workshop
Topics: 
Flexible Mechanisms
Region: 
Latin America
Related Event: 
Bonn Climate Change Conference June 2013
Related Newsletter : 
ECO 7, June Bonn 2013, English

Putting the Start Back in SBI

Submitted by MBrockley on

 

ECO is dismayed to have to write another article on the fact that the SBI has yet to begin its work. Boo! ECO would much rather fill its pages with all the ideas it has for the 2015 agreement or on closing the gigatonne gap (or at least some funny cartoons, fake recipes, or mock classified ads). Instead it feels compelled to ruminate on the lack of progress…

Ironically, it seems that this lack of progress has its origins in something that actually did make progress: Doha eliminated more than 3.6 billion tons of the hot air in the Kyoto system. Without this decision Ukraine and Belarus would have accumulated over 2 billion and 400 million tons of hot air in the course of the second commitment period due to their weak targets. There is no point giving the number for Russia as it has comfortably decided not to participate in KP CP2. 

The issue, of course, is how that decision was taken. While ECO fully supports resolving the long-standing matter of the rules of procedure, it is suspicious of the motives behind Russia, Ukraine and Belarus for insisting on it right now. For Russia, this just seems like sour grapes as they are not even a party to the second commitment period, and last time a proposal on the rules of procedure was discussed, seemed much more intent on pushing its own proposal to regularly review the Annexes of the Convention (which – oh, ECO doesn’t know – may explain some of the G77 and China’s positioning now on including new items in the agenda). As for Ukraine and Belarus, they would be much better placed to seek financial and technical support to genuine efforts to reduce their emissions rather than blocking the SBI. Blocking gives you nothing.

Doha, unfortunately, did not eliminate all hot air. Some still remains in the system and is currently caught up behind an EU bubble – here’s looking at you Poland (ECO would love to write about your new found ambition when you host the COP, but has a few articles in mind should you choose to pour cold “coaly” water on the whole thing…). Moreover, while the economies in transition had their “ambition” pushed up by new provisions, all developed countries’ ambition is still inadequately low, with no opportunities for a similar increase given all the loopholes they have deftly crafted.    

ECO urges all Parties, economies in transition, the G77 and the like, to work constructively towards resolving this issue immediately and starting the SBI today.

Tags: 
SBI
Topics: 
Mitigation
Related Event: 
Bonn Climate Change Conference June 2013
Related Newsletter : 
ECO 3, June Bonn 2013, English

Russia Agenda fight delays UN climate talks for two days, earns Moscow a fossil award

Submitted by MBrockley on

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                            June 4, 2013

Bonn, Germany

Contact:
Ria Voorhaar
rvoorhaar@climatenetwork.org
+49 157 3173 5568

Today's Fossil is awarded to Russia for blocking the start of the SBI through trying to alter the agenda. In Doha, Parties made progress on improving the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol by getting rid of some of the hot air in the system. Yet, now Russia – who is not even a Party to the second commitment period of the Protocol – is all bent out of shape about how the decision was taken. Of course, having matters being formally adopted and adhering to the rules of procedure are very important elements in this process, however blocking the work of the SBI for two days is not the way to have this matter is resolved.  There has been an item on the COP agenda dealing with proposals regarding the rules of procedure for the past two years.  The SBI agenda is full of pressing issues that could also yield real emission reductions – like reforming JI and the CDM to ensure additionality or reviewing the adequacy of the long-term goal. So Russia why don’t you use that super power of yours to get the SBI back on track?!

About CAN: The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of over 850 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working to promote government and individual action to limit human0induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. www.climatenetwork.org

 

About the fossils: The Fossil of the Day awards were first presented at the climate talks in 1999, in Bonn, initiated by the German NGO Forum. During United Nations climate change negotiations (www.unfccc.int), members of the Climate Action Network (CAN), vote for countries judged to have done their 'best' to block progress in the negotiations in the last days of talks.
 

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Tags: 
Fossil
Fossil of the Day
SBI
Russia
Organization: 
Climate Action Network
UNFCCC
Related Event: 
Bonn Climate Change Conference June 2013

Russia Agenda fight delays UN climate talks for two days, earns Moscow a fossil award

Submitted by MBrockley on

Fossil of the Day: June 3, 2013 - RUSSIA AGENDA FIGHT DELAYS UN CLIMATE TALKS FOR TWO DAYS

Today's Fossil is awarded to Russia for blocking the start of the SBI through trying to alter the agenda. In Doha, Parties made progress on improving the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol by getting rid of some of the hot air in the system. Yet, now Russia – who is not even a Party to the second commitment period of the Protocol – is all bent out of shape about how the decision was taken. Of course, having matters being formally adopted and adhering to the rules of procedure are very important elements in this process, however blocking the work of the SBI for two days is not the way to have this matter is resolved.  There has been an item on the COP agenda dealing with proposals regarding the rules of procedure for the past two years.  The SBI agenda is full of pressing issues that could also yield real emission reductions – like reforming JI and the CDM to ensure additionality or reviewing the adequacy of the long-term goal. So Russia why don’t you use that super power of yours to get the SBI back on track?!

 

Tags: 
Fossil
Fossil of the Day
SBI
agenda
Russia
Organization: 
Climate Action Network
Related Event: 
Bonn Climate Change Conference June 2013
Related Member Organization: 
UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC)

In Hot Pursuit of the SBI

Submitted by MBrockley on

FCCC/CP/1996/2...*sigh*...is a document close to ECO’s heart! While there is no denying that clear rules of procedure – finally formally adopted and adhered to – would be an important development, ECO should be forgiven for doubting the sincerity of the sudden, but independent, interest of Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine in the matter. 

ECO has been around since 1972 (if you forgot to send us a birthday present this year, see yesterday's issue for some suggestions). However, one’s institutional memory need not stretch that far back. In fact, one only needed to be in Doha, to understand where our scepticism comes from. 

Russia, Belarus and Ukraine opposed the overwhelming consensus on a COP decision in Doha. But their reasons were completely different from those of Bolivia's similar objections in Cancun. Bolivia objected a COP decision on the grounds that the deal on the table was not ambitious enough. ECO notes a clear difference here. In Doha, Parties made progress on improving the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol by getting rid of some of the hot air in the system. ECO was delighted with this development as – after all – important things in this process (emissions, hot air, the gap in financing commitments) are supposed to go down and not up. But Russia, Belarus and Ukraine did not agree. In fact, a number of targets that were on the table in Doha from the economies in transition would have increased the total amount of hot air in the system.

There have been ample opportunities to discuss ways forward on the rules of procedure – the Mexico and PNG proposal being a prime example – and ECO does not remember strenuous and vocal support from the current proponents back then (in fact, Russia seemed more interested in its other proposal to amend Art. 4.2(f) of the Convention). So why raise concern now?    

Improving decision making procedures in the UNFCCC is appreciated. And if Russia, Belarus and Ukraine want to help, ECO encourages them to team up with Mexico, PNG and others to make real progress on this issue at COP19.  Even better, there is already a place holder on the provisional agenda for the COP to discuss it! A fast-start step towards improving procedures would be to get on with the SBI work now. Though the negotiations and their rules may seem surreal to some, climate change is very real to millions across the planet, and there is strong consensus that we need urgent action.

 

Tags: 
Kyoto Protocol
SBI
Region: 
Eastern Europe and Eurasia
Related Event: 
Bonn Climate Change Conference June 2013
Related Newsletter : 
ECO 2, June Bonn 2013, English

CAN Intervention in the COP18 SBI Opening Plenary, 27 November, 2012

Submitted by Sam Harris on

 

CAN, YOUNGO and CJN! SBI Opening Plenary Intervention at COP18

Delivered by, David Gawith of YOUNGO, 27 November 2012

Thank you Chair, my name is David and I will be 60 years old in in 2050

Your task this week is a challenging one. The SBI is expected to complete its entire business this session by Saturday.  We stand ready to assist you in this task. Science is telling us that full and sustained implementation of the Convention's fundamental objective is slipping further and further from our grasp. This has disastrous implications for humanity and for its future, our future.

 Hurricane Sandy’s impacts in Haiti, Cuba, and the United States have reminded us that loss and damage is a reality. It’s happening now. Current low mitigation ambition is breaching the ultimate objective of the Convention. Opportunities for avoiding loss and damage are being wasted because of insufficient funding. We need to start thinking beyond adaptation. Based on the decision from Durban, we expect you to set up a comprehensive mechanism to address compensation and rehabilitation issues. Further, we expect you to develop the next phase of the work programme to detail the modalities of the mechanism. Almost 100 vulnerable developing countries have outlined the needs and potential elements of an international mechanism. Doha must not end without clear progress on addressing loss and damage.

On technology, for the Technology Mechanism to be considered "fully operational" at COP18 there must be a committed source of interim and long term funding for the Technology Executive Committee, the Climate Technology Centre and its Advisory Board. The architecture of the Technology Mechanism must also be highly responsive to developing Party clients in order to promote transparency and ensure equitable access to adaptation and mitigation technologies. Finally there must be robust engagement with stakeholders and civil society.
 
On Capacity Building, Parties should concentrate their work on paragraph 6 of 13/CP-17. By agreeing on an intensive 2 year work programme that creates an enhanced structure for effective capacity building in developing countries, by the end of 2014, the ground lost on capacity building could be regained here in Doha.

We hold you accountable for these outcomes.

 Thank you.

Tags: 
adaptation
SBI
capacity building
technology
loss and damage
intervention
Topics: 
Adaptation
Capacity Building
Technology
Related Event: 
COP18/CMP8 Doha Climate Conference

CAN Intervention - Speaking Notes BKK - August 31, 2012

Submitted by Secretariat on

SPEAKING_NOTES_-_CAN-International_LCA_CG_on_CB_Friday_310812.pdf

SPEAKING NOTES – Pat Finnegan on behalf of CAN-International

  • Thanks and Introduction
  • As the US has noted, this is a relatively small group of negotiators, and there is a sense of community
  • However, equally, this morning it is clear that the debate continues to be largely binary, and is polarised into two largely opposing sets of views
  • The role of NGO's is very often (we like to think anyway) to assist Parties to move forward and make progress
  • In that light, CAN would like to respond to the US view that there is no text on the table, there is no decision to have text, and there is no mandate for text
  • The secretariat has (as usual) done its usual excellent work in providing material for this session
  • Nevertheless, CAN would like to point out that missing from the decision matrix is any reference to 13/CP-17 (the Durban decision on CB that this group agreed)
  • 13/CP-17 para 6 decides to further enhance the framework for capacity building under four main headings:
6 a) decides to ensure consultation with stakeholders throughout the entire process
6 b) decides to further integrate capacity building into national strategies
6 c) decides to increase the co-ordination of capacity building
6 d) decides to strenghten networking among developing countries and South-South co-operation
  • But para 6 contains no detail on how to implement and deliver these decisions
  • As the EU has observed, there are other opportunities to move this forward
  • With all due respect to the Durban Forum on Capacity Building (as mentioned by the EU and others) CAN does not believe that is capable of moving fast enough, or substantially enough, given that it is just a one day session to be held once a year and is not scheduled to be held again until next June (2013)
  • CAN is suggesting Parties concentrate their forces right now instead on working towards a substantive COP-18 decision in Doha establishing an intensive two year programme of work in the SBI, dedicated to further enhancing developing country capacity and means of support, and to building an institutional structure capable of ensuring universal delivery by 2014
  • Such a decision does not actually require a mandate from the LCA. But CAN suggests that a LCA decision to provide one would give the appropriate stamp of approval for some concentrated work through the COP and in the SBI between 2013-2014
  • We hope this suggestion may help Parties in moving forward.
  • Thanks again Chair and delegates for this opportunity
  • We look forward to further opportunities to offer our assistance and views

 

Tags: 
LCA
SBI
Doha
South-South
Durban Forum on Capacity Building
Organization: 
Climate Action Network
Related Event: 
Bangkok Climate Change Conference 2012

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