Statement to Parliament by PM Golding on the Declaration on Climate Change

STATEMENT TO PARLIAMENT
BY PRIME MINISTER
THE HON. BRUCE GOLDING
ON THE COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF GOVERNMENT
DECLARATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009

Heads of Government of the Commonwealth convened for 2 ½ days in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad over the weekend amid severe challenges facing the world, the most significant of which are the global economic crisis and the urgent need to forge a collective response to the creeping disaster of global warming. 49 of the 53 member countries were represented at the meeting. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade will, in due course, table a Ministry Paper providing details of the deliberations that were conducted and the decisions taken. However, I wish to apprise the House of the position taken by the Heads on the issue that took up more of our deliberations than any other issue - climate change.

The meeting was convened on the eve of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held later this month in Copenhagen, perhaps the most anticipated international conference in recent times. The conference was expected to be the climax of a two-year negotiating process following the 13th Conference in Bali in December 2007 and the adoption of the Bali Action Plan. That plan had identified the critical components of global cooperation for sustained existence and sustainable development: mitigation, adaptation, financing, application of technology and capacity building.

The widely-shared hope was for an agreement in Copenhagen on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol whose first commitment period ends in 2012. Regrettably, the negotiations have not so far produced a consensus that would secure a legally binding agreement and the expectations of the outcome of Copenhagen have, therefore, been scaled back.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government were unanimous that efforts toward securing a binding agreement on climate control must be strengthened. Our deliberations benefited from presentations by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen of Denmark who will be chairing the Copenhagen Conference. All three were specially invited to address the conference.

The danger to the planet of global warming and the catastrophes it will produce if left unchecked including the uninhabilitability of parts of the world, particularly some small island states is not the alarmist warnings of over-zealous scientists. It is a real danger confirmed not only by scientific data but also by actual accumulated experience.

Climatic behaviour and sea levels are determined by changes in the earth's temperature which, in turn, is determined by the extent to which the atmosphere retains heat. The major contributor to the increased heat retention in the atmosphere is the emission of greenhouse gases arising from human activities, especially carbon dioxide (CO2), to which the burning of fossil fuels is the most significant contributor. Some of these gases remain suspended in the atmosphere for hundreds of years. Over time, therefore, the world has accumulated more and more of these gases, retaining more and more heat, producing higher and higher temperatures. Volatile weather patterns with more intense drought and floods, severe hurricanes, rising sea levels devouring coastal areas, melting icecaps leading to floods and landslides are becoming increasing phenomena. It threatens not just agriculture and the ability of the world to feed itself but the survival of vast segments of the world's population.

Concentration of carbon dioxide which was measured at 280 ppm before the onset of the industrial revolution has risen to 385 ppm today and if current rates of increase remain unchecked could exceed 550 ppm by 2050. Emissions over the last 50 years have increased significantly, coinciding with the period of rapid industrial development. As a result, global temperature measured at 14.01º Celsius in the 1970s, rose to 14.26º in the 1980s and 14.40º in the 1990s.

Industrialized countries are responsible for 70% of the greenhouse gases produced so far with the US and China accounting for more than a half of that amount. Other major developing countries are also significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Developing countries including those that are most vulnerable to the dangers of climate change, in their quest for development, are likely to assume a greater share of carbon emissions unless the path of that development is informed by a sustainable, carbon-limiting strategy.

There is broad consensus that action needs to be taken to avert the complete ruination of the global environment. The challenge facing the Copenhagen Conference is to reach a binding, verifiable, enforceable agreement on precisely what must be done and how the responsibility for doing it must be allocated. Importantly, it requires a collectivity in commitment and action greater than anything the world has ever seen since carbon emissions anywhere cling to the atmosphere everywhere.

The strategies required fall into four main categories:

(1) Mitigation measures to reduce carbon emissions, stabilize carbon concentration levels and limit temperature rise;
(2) Adaptation measures to enable countries already adversely affected or endangered by climate change to protect themselves;
(3) Introduction and transfer of appropriate technology to facilitate(1) and (2) above;
(4) Provision of funding for all the above.

It is the lack of consensus on these strategies that have clouded the prospects of a legally binding international agreement emanating from the Copenhagen Conference. Developing countries are demanding much deeper emission cuts, lower limits on temperature rise and greenhouse gas concentration and earlier peaking point for global emission levels than some developed countries, particularly those responsible for the greater share of emissions, are prepared to commit themselves to.

While the need for a global fund to finance mitigation and adaptation measures is generally accepted, discussions as to the quantum and source of these funds and how they are to be disbursed are still at a preliminary stage. It is estimated that the financing required will amount to between 0.5% and 1.0% of global GDP or between $250B and $500B per annum.

The Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) of which Jamaica is a member is demanding even more stringent limits than other developing countries, given the fact that they are most at risk. For example, while some countries have suggested a cap of 2º celsius for temperature rise above pre-industrial levels, AOSIS is insisting on no more than 1.5º, arguing that at 2º 80% of the Bahamas, for example, would eventually disappear under the sea. A worse fate would await small island states like the Maldives, Tuvalu, Kiribati, to name just a few, with extremely low elevations.

Recognizing the challenging prospects for a legally binding agreement in Copenhagen, the Commonwealth nevertheless resolved to use its considerable influence to press for such an agreement with special emphasis on the predicament and needs of those countries that are least culpable but most vulnerable. The Commonwealth is well suited to do so, comprising, as it does, one third of the world's population, a quarter of its sovereign states spread across all five continents and including countries that are among the richest and poorest, most developed and least developed.

In its Declaration on Climate Change, Commonwealth Heads of Government reaffirmed their commitment to the Lake Victoria Commonwealth Climate Change Action Plan that was adopted at the last CHOGM in Uganda, the mission of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and a legally binding international agreement no later than 2010 to be preceded, at a minimum, by a political and operational agreement at Copenhagen this month. The objective of the Declaration is to ensure that the commitments are sufficiently strong to facilitate meaningful negotiations toward a binding agreement with explicit targets by 2010.

The Commonwealth Heads also reinforced the need for adequate funds to be provided for the management of climate change amelioration initiatives and stressed that these must be separate from and additional to existing official development assistance flows. They also welcomed the proposed Copenhagen Launch Fund to provide $10 billion annually over the first 10 years as fast-disbursing funds for the most vulnerable countries and that at least 10% of this amount should be reserved for small island states and associated low-lying coastal areas of AOSIS member states but emphasized that much more substantial funding will be required to arrest the threat to the global environment posed by global warming.

Commonwealth Heads also endorsed the call for an international governing authority to manage the disbursement of funds, monitor implementation of agreed measures and ensure compliance with country commitments and agreed mandates.

The Copenhagen Conference will be convened against mixed sentiments of disappointment and hope; disappointment because the legally binding international agreement many had hoped for, while being within our reach, is not yet within our grasp; hope because the need for such an agreement is not disputed; what needs to be agreed is the precise content of such an agreement.

Jamaica will be participating fully at this important conference. Our delegation will be led by the Deputy Prime Minister and he will be supported by technical officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and other agencies that have been involved in the negotiations and consideration of the issues arising there from.

The issue is so crucial to the future of the planet and, in particular, the hopes and development prospects for countries like Jamaica that I have invited the Opposition to name a representative to be included in our delegation.