IBON International - Conflict Deepens Before Copenhagen

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IBON International is the international division of IBON Foundation, Inc. As an international NGO, IBON Foundation responds to international demand to provide support in research and education to peoples’ movements and grassroots empowerment and advocacy and links these to international initiatives and networks.

IBON International initiates and implements international programs, develops and hosts international networks, initiates and participates in international advocacy campaigns, and establishes regional and country offices where necessary and appropriate.

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Offices

IBON Foundation is a non-stock non-profit development institution committed to serve the Filipino people through various programs in research-education-information.

IBON Europe was set up in 2007 as the base for IBON International's program in Europe. It will initially focus on EU member states where it will develop partnerships with grassroots-based movements of marginalized peoples and sectors according to its mandate.

IBON South Asia's thrust is the empowerment of grassroots in the sub-region by developing the capacity of people's movements and grassroots organizations through research-education and advocacy support. IBON South Asia provides needed support to movements of marginalized sections of society such as Dalits, Adivasis, women, peasants, agricultural workers, fisherfolk and the toiling masses to empower them in building free democratic societies in the sub-region

IBON Africa focuses on building knowledge based capacity for grassroots organizations, social movements and local community based organization (CBOs) and NGO in the Africa region. To attain this objective, IBON Africa provides various services to sectors and organization in the Africa community - access to timely and relevant information through its databank and publications; training and seminars; organizing of international events to tackle such themes as golbalization, food sovereignty, aid and development and governance initiated by IBON in partnership with other international networks.

Networks

The Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) was established in 1998 as a result of networking including a number of conferences in 1997, where the objective to channel and focus the efforts of NGO research towards supporting the need for information, education and advocacy of grassroots organizations was recognized by a number of key Asian research organizations or non-government organizations with established research departments.

The Reality of Aid network is the only major north/south international non-governmental collaboration focusing exclusively on analysis and lobbying for poverty eradication policies and practices in the international aid regime.

Issue Networks

The People's Movement on Climate Change is a global campaign that aims to provide venue for grassroots, especially from the South - who are the worst-affected and yet are the least empowered to adapt to climate change - to participate in the process of drawing up a post-2012 climate change framework.

The Water for the People Network (WPN) Water for the People Network (WPN) is a campaign network that supports the various water-related struggles at the grassroots in order for them to achieve national and international projection. It also serves as an information and resource center as well as a coordinating body for joint actions and campaigns on the national and international levels.

The International Initiative on Corruption and Governance (IICG) was set up in 2001 to promote interest on corruption and governance issues from a grassroots perspective that takes into account all aspects of corruption, including systemic factors and corruption in the private sector.

Network Participant

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) is a global network of communicators committed to communication for social change.

The Our World is Not For Sale (OWINFS) is a worldwide network of organizations, activists and social movements committed to challenging trade and investment agreements that advance the interests of the world’s most powerful corporations at the expense of people and the environment.

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Conflict Deepens Before Copenhagen

Written by Martin Khor
Friday, 13 November 2009
Geneva, 9 Nov (Martin Khor) --The United Nations climate talks in Barcelona last week ended disappointingly as there was little progress on the key political issues, and a few dramatic events showed the depth of the impasse. It was the last negotiation session before the Copenhagen conference in December, and it lost the last chance to close the gaps on the many issues still outstanding. But it was not all doom and gloom. There was some advance in clarifying some issues, for example, some new texts were discussed in finance and technology issues. The Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) did not bridge the differences, but the Barcelona meeting helped countries to better clarify their positions and thus enabled decisions on key issues to be made in Copenhagen. These include the setting up of a Fund directly under the UNFCCC, and whether to set up a new executive body to decide on technology transfer issues also within the UNFCCC. However, differences on some key issues remained and in some cases deepened, which is not a positive sign for Copenhagen. First is the future of the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty under the UNFCCC that spells out the legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for developed country Parties. What was signaled in Bangkok in early October was confirmed in Barcelona, that almost all the developed countries have decided to abandon the Protocol. They apparently want to establish a new agreement, which is likely to be a climb down from the internationally legally binding regime of the Kyoto Protocol, to a collection of national efforts and peer review of performance, in the new agreement. The developing countries made clear in Barcelona that they would not accept this climb-down and that the developed countries have to make clear they will remain in KP and seriously negotiate in Copenhagen a second commitment period (that starts in 2013) for further emission reduction. Second is the very low level of ambition of developed countries in emission reduction. Developing countries have called for an aggregate cut of at least 40% by 2020 compared to 1990. The latest figures revealed at Barcelona showed that the national announcements amount to only 16-23% (excluding the US, UNFCCC Secretariat data) and 11-17% (including the US, according to an estimate of the Alliance of Small Island States). The developing countries are aghast at such low levels of commitments, which do not form a basis for an environmentally ambitious outcome in Copenhagen, as required by scientific assessments. Third is the continued attempt to shift the burden of responsibility to developing countries, in violation of the principles and provisions of the UNFCCC and the Bali Action Plan adopted by the Parties in 2007. Developed countries at the Barcelona session proposed to blur the distinction between the differentiated responsibilities of developed countries (mitigation commitments that are legally binding) and developing countries (mitigation actions enabled and supported by finance and technology). The attempt included getting developing countries to adhere to new and broad reporting and verification procedures similar to developed countries, to get some ³advanced developing countries² to adhere to emission reduction targets, and to get developing countries in general to have emissions subject to ³deviation from business as usual by 15 to 30 percent². These were not agreed to in Bali nor are they in the UNFCCC provisions. What is ³business as usual² is also not determined. Fourth, the adequate means to enable developing countries to take actions are still not forthcoming. On finance, the developed countries have yet as a group to respond to the finance proposals of the developing countries that range from 1 to 5 percent of GNP. The European Union¹s recent announcement of a willingness to consider Euro 22 to 50 billion by 2020 of international public finance is inadequate, and more details are needed on this as well as Europe¹s own share. On technology transfer, there is a reluctance of developed countries to agree to setting up an executive body under the UNFCCC to decide on technology issues and to effect technology transfer. An advisory group as they propose is not good enough, especially since there has been very little tech-transfer achieved under the UNFCCC for the past decade and half. Fifth, there is a difference over the ³shared vision² and a long-term global goal for emissions reduction. Some developed countries confirmed their proposal for a global 50% emissions cut by 2050 compared to 1990, and a 80% cut for themselves. However what was unstated is that this requires developing countries to also cut by 20% in absolute terms and 60% in per capita terms. Some developing countries would have to cut by significantly more than 60% from the 2009 level. Thus the ³burden² in percentage terms for both developed and developing countries is almost the same. Yet the massive finance and technology transfer that may enable developing countries to take on a part of this challenge is not forthcoming. The figures have to be discussed more, the developed countries have to undertake ³negative emissions² (achieve net emissions reduction, below zero, considering that they have used more than their fair share of the atmospheric space for their own growth), and the finance and technology issues have to be resolved beforehand. The above are some of the issues that have to be resolved if Copenhagen is to be a success. Whatever is the nature or form of the outcome (whether a full deal or a framework of a deal, or a decision to continue the talks), the aspects of environment, equity and North-South balance have to be taken care of. At the closing plenary in Barcelona, China¹s delegation chief, Su Wei, gave a direct message. ³To those developed countries who are standing there waiting for developing countries to act, please look ahead,² he said. ³We, the developing countries, have already left you behind, you cannot use developing countries as an excuse for your inaction any more. ³Please wake up and to see that Copenhagen is just miles away, you have to get running in order catch up. Otherwise, you will fail in the race to Copenhagen and beyond.² India¹s special envoy on climate change, Shyam Saran, rejected attempts to already declare failure at Barcelona and downgrade expectations from Copenhagen. ³To talk about a political agreement instead of a legally binding outcome, to suggest that we may be able to achieve some result only by the end of 2010, these are prophecies which we must dismiss,² he said. The warnings from the two largest developing countries indicate that the Copenhagen conference will see a major battle, unless informal meetings and talks among some countries help to bridge the gaps.+ (Martin Khor is Executive Director of the South Centre, which is based in Geneva.)