Secret text at Copenhagen climate-change talks enrages developing nations
Comments offThree days into the climate-change negotiations here in Copenhagen, a draft text leaked from the Danish government has left the participants in disarray.
The document appeared to propose abandoning the current Kyoto Protocol and this has angered developing countries in particular.
They expect the developed nations that are party to the Kyoto Protocol to adopt new commitments to reduce their carbon emissions, and want all industrialised nations to support the developing countries in their mitigation and adaptation efforts.
A few hours after the ‘Danish text’ had been leaked to the Guardian newspaper, the G77/China group of 130 developing nations reacted strongly.
Speaking on their behalf, Ambassador Lumumba Di-Aping of Sudan, which chairs the group, spelt out exactly why the poor countries were so incensed.
“The text robs developing countries of their just and equitable and fair share of the atmospheric space,” he said. “It tries to treat rich and poor countries as equal.”
According to The Guardian, the text is a draft proposal for the final political agreement that should be signed by national leaders including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown at the end of the Copenhagen summit on 18 December.
It was said to have been prepared in secret by a group of individuals known as “the circle of commitment” but understood to include the US and Denmark.
The text was considered by negotiators from the developing countries block as betrayal, sources said.
“This text destroys both the UN Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol,” Di-Aping was quoted as saying. “This is aimed at producing a new treaty, a new legal initiative that throws away the basis of [differing] obligations between the poorest and most wealthy nations in the world.”
In a press conference later in the day the head of the UN Convention on Climate Change Yvo de Boer denied that this draft document could disrupt the negotiation process.
“This was an informal paper ahead of the conference given to a number of people for the purposes of consultations,” he said. “The only formal texts in the UN process are the ones tabled by the Chairs of this Copenhagen conference at the behest of the Parties.”
