Published in INTERNET EDITION: HOLIDAY (Environment and Activism)

Buenos Aires conference advances efforts to adapt to climate change and meet Kyoto targets
Quamrul Islam Chowdhury,
back from Buenos Aires, Argentina

The tenth session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded on December 17, 2004 after adopting a package of measures aimed at helping countries to prepare for climate change.
“The Buenos Aires conference marks ten years of action under the Climate Change Convention to address a problem that will be with us for decades if not centuries to come,” said Joke Waller Hunter, Executive Secretary of the Convention.

“This was a conference of hope, sparked by the momentum generated by the upcoming entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February 2005. The meeting succeeded in bringing adaptation into the mainstream of the intergovernmental process,” she said.

In the face of growing evidence that climate change impacts can already be detected, the conference adopted the Buenos Aires Programme of Work on Adaptation and Response Measures.

The Programme includes further scientific assessments of vulnerabilities and options for adaptation, support to the National Action Plans on Adaptation of least developed countries, new workshops and technical papers on various aspects of climate change risk and adaptation and support for mainstreaming adaptation into sustainable development planning.

The conference also asked the Convention secretariat to convene a seminar of governmental experts next May in Bonn. The seminar will “promote an informal exchange on a) actions relating to mitigation and adaptation to assist Parties to continue to develop effective and appropriate responses to climate change; and b) policies and measures adopted by their respective governments that support implementation of their existing commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol”.

Other decisions welcomed the concrete progress made by the Protocol’s clean development mechanism (CDM). The conference opened the way for new types of CDM projects related to small-scale forestry, thus adding to existing possibilities such as projects that reduce methane from landfills or that promote renewable energy. In a move strongly supported by business observers, it also gave strong backing to a strengthening of the CDM’s Executive Board.
Other key decisions relate to the rapidly evolving carbon market where allowances and credits from projects that reduce emissions can be bought and sold. In a few days, on 1 January 2005, emissions trading will become a reality for 12,000 companies in the European Union. The sophisticated system ensuring reliable accounting was presented to Ministers present in Buenos Aires.

Meanwhile, several new countries, namely Indonesia, Liechtenstein and Nigeria, joined the Protocol during or just before the conference, bringing the total Kyoto membership up to 132 Parties. Several others announced that their ratification was underway.

Other highlights of the conference included the much-anticipated submissions by Brazil and China of their first national communications outlining their strategies for addressing climate change.

In addition to adopting formal decisions, the conference evolved into a global forum for businesses, environmental groups and others to exchange ideas, make contacts and present new reports and findings. Some 60 exhibits and over 150 seminars and events were held on the sidelines of the intergovernmental talks.

During the final high-level segment, some 85 Ministers along with heads of delegation participated in a lively exchange during four panel discussions. The discussion themes were –– “The Convention after 10 years: accomplishments and future challenges”; “Impacts of climate change, adaptation measures and sustainable development”; “Technology and climate change”; and “Mitigation of climate change: policies and their impacts”.

The ministerial high-level segment kicked off in the picturesque Argentine capital city of Buenos Aires on December 6 by Argentine President D. Nestor Carlos Kirchner with a call to take concrete actions for mitigation and adaptation of the abrupt climatic events across the globe.

Inaugurating the high-level segment of several thousand delegates from all-over the world, the Argentine President called upon the Ministers and heads of delegation to come up with real actions to face the adverse impacts of climate change.

“We expect to reach a reasonably good decision, which will open an agenda for adaptation and allow developing countries to get the resources they need... Our objective was for everybody to join the global effort to mitigate climate change. One way was the Kyoto Protocol, we trusted that USA would join, and it did not. Now we will see what other options are available,” said Argentine Ambassador Raul Estrada Oyuela who drafted landmark Kyoto treaty in 1997 to cut back global emissions.

Dutch Yvo de Boer, representative of European Union said that ratification of Kyoto Protocol by Russia and the fact that it would soon come into effect gave the negotiations a very positive context. “ I believe it is very important to get the United States to join the negotiations,” he added.

Bangladesh demands on-the-ground actions
Bangladesh State Minister for Environment and Forest, Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, reiterated Bangladesh’s stand that it is high time for the global community to move from climate change studies and assessments to on-the-ground actions for combating climate change across the world.

The Minister, leader of a ten-member Bangladesh delegation, was addressing as a panelist at the ministerial high-level segment on December 16 which was chaired by Tuvalu’s Environment Minister Enele Sopoaga. Other panelists were British Environment Minister Margaret Backett, Australian Environment and Heritage Minister Ian Campbell, Senegalese Environment Minister Modou Fada Diagne, Hungarian Water and Environment Minister Miklos Persanyi and Mexican Minister Alberto Jimenez.

Jafrul suggested at the miniserial segment of the conference the possibility of developing micro-insurance for the poor using institutions involved in micro lending such as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
He pointed out that in July 2004, just six months ago, Bangladesh experienced one of its worst floods ever. More than one-third of the country was flooded. More than 1000 people died in the flood, more than a million people lost their houses. A total of 30 million people were directly affected by the floods that lasted several weeks and destroyed large parts of the harvest.

All the climate change models, he said, that have been applied to Bangladesh show that climate change will bring even more frequent and larger floods to Bangladesh. Climate change will also threaten agriculture, through increased inundation, salinity and through hotter winters that will lead to droughts, he added.
Jafrul welcomed the development of LDC Fund for the least developed countries and support national adaptation plan of actions and informed the delegates of 186 countries that Bangladesh NAPA is progressing quickly and would be completed soon.

He said: “Will those countries in the North who created this situation with their excessive greenhouse gas emissions, will they offer my people space to live and settle? Climate change-induced environmental refugees may contribute to future threats to global security.

“Given that climate change impacts are already being experienced, we are already looking at other solutions, at options for adaptation to the impact of climate change in our country. We can learn –– to some degree –– from our people’s experience and indigenous knowledge from living with floods over centuries”.
However, he explained, climate change will make floods and living conditions worse than ever and create new problems that cannot be resolved with old solutions.

“We will therefore need to build on existing knowledge and find new and innovative solutions,” he added.
The Minister said, like many of the most vulnerable countries in the world, Bangladesh is conscious of the need to integrate climate change considerations into our development processes, policies and planning, including the PRSP. A government Climate Change Cell has recently been established to explore options for adaptation and work with government and non-government organisations to raise awareness of the urgency of climate change.
He said that Bangladesh is also making good progress in developing a National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA). All these projects aim to identify options for adaptation that can be replicated in other parts of the country.
Jafrul stressed the need for additional funding so these options can be implemented.

In order to enable Bangladesh to develop in a sustainable manner, he urged the rich countries to immediately further reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The targets under the Kyoto Protocol are a good start, and it is welcome that the Kyoto Protocol will soon come into force. However, he said, much more will be required to reverse the impacts of climate change.

Jafrul said in addition to curbing greenhouse gases, Bangladesh will require more assistance to adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change. He elaborated, “It is not us who created this situation; it should not be us who pays the price for the rich countries’ wealth. I believe that it would be appropriate for the rich countries to further progress on technology transfer and to make generous contributions to the adaptation funds set up under the UNFCCC and to further bilateral funding of adaptation”.

The Minister also asked the UNFCCC secretariat to hold a workshop on risk assessment and micro-insurance and said Bangladesh would be happy to host such a workshop.

The Minister also made intervention in the panel on the technology and climate change and highlighted the problem of climate change that has been created through the use of old and inefficient technology – especially for transport and the generation of energy from fossil fuels – in those countries that constitute today’s industrialised world. “As a developing country we have no obligations to reduce greenhouse gases”, he asserted.

“We have a right to development”, he said. “However, we are aware of the problems that the old way of using technology has created and we are striving towards finding a better development path –– a de-carbonised development path.”

Bangladesh, he said, is working with a two-pronged approach. On the one side, we are introducing climate-friendly technologies for mitigation of greenhouse gases. On the other side, we are developing and introducing new technologies to help us adapt to climate change.

Jafrul said Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and adaptation to climate change is of the highest priority to the country.

He gave some examples of mitigation as well as adaptation technologies that are developing or are already in use in Bangladesh.

The Minister said in capital Dhaka, the government has undertaken the conversion of all 2-stroke motor rickshaws to four-stroke natural gas power. This has been a great success which has not only reduced greenhouse gas emissions from motor rickshaws; it also has a beneficial impact on urban air quality and health. In a next step, Bangladesh is now working on the conversion of buses to natural gas, he added.

He said in another effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions Bangladesh is investigating options for improving the efficiency of brick kilns, of which there are many in the country. This is expected to produce in a win-win situation for the local environment and economy, as well as the global environment.

Jafrul said his government is working on several projects to introduce renewable energy technologies in Bangladesh. This includes solar energy projects and a biogas project which aims to use methane from waste dumps.
He said several of these projects are being considered under the Clean Development Mechanism.
The Minister emphasised that Bangladesh has a right for being provided with the best and most up-to-date technology. This is a prerequisite for developing a de-carbonised development path. When multinationals invest in developing countries they need to use the best standard of technology. There have been many attempts of companies to deploy old and outdated technology in the developing world.

With respect to adaptation technologies, he mentioned that the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute is undertaking research on stagnant deep-water rice varieties that would be suitable for waterlogged areas.

Bangladesh, he said, has identified other technologies that help the people adapt to the effects of climate change, for example, floating gardens made from water hyacinth to grow vegetables in waterlogged areas. There is also an attempt to develop saline-resistant crops. Increased salinity is one of the consequences of climate change in Bangladesh and it has already detrimental effects in the agricultural sector, especially in the coastal areas.
He regretted that less has been done to support the development of adaptation technologies. However, for Bangladesh, mitigation and adaptation are of equal importance, he said and called upon his ministerial colleagues and delegates from all countries to put more emphasis on the development of adaptation technologies.

He also took part in the mitigation and policy panel referring the devastating impact of climate change for the people of Bangladesh. “My Prime Minister has noted that while for some countries, the impact of climate change might be life-style threatening, for others such as Bangladesh, it is life threatening,” he said.

Jafrul made an appeal to all nations to affirm their commitment to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions for demonstrable progress and said leadership is required from industrialised countries, who have contributed most to the legacy of increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

A key member of Bangladesh delegation, Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, was inducted as a friend of the chair of COP 10 to spearhead the hectic negotiations, especially to iron out the outstanding and unresolved issues at the conference of the parties. FEJB Chairman Quamrul Islam Chowdhury reminded the industrialised countries of their responsibilities for providing the least developed countries adequate resources for formulation and implementation of National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPAs) on an emergency basis so that those most vulnerable nations could cope with the adverse impacts of climate change.

Bangladesh delegation member, Mohammad Reazuddin, became the chair of the least developed countries.
Former Environment Secretary Syed Tanveer Hossain asked the developed countries to pay the price for their over consumption and sin of emission by supporting developing countries adaptation programme.
The role of Bangladesh commended
British Minister Margaret Beckett conceded that impact of climate change is now seen all over the globe and called for global effort to increase resilience and adaptation capabilities.

She also expressed sympathetic view about the vulnerability of Bangladesh in the context of climate change.
Australian Minister Ian Campbell pointed out the complementarities between adaptation and mitigation.

UNDP Associate Administrator Zephririn Diabre said since 1986, UNDP had implemented over 400 climate change and energy projects that reduced greenhouse gas emissions in 140 countries including Bangladesh.

“UNDP is on the ground advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life,” he said adding UNDP worked with 20 different countries including Bangladesh and would continue to support the development of effective clean development mechanism enabling environments.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director and UN Under Secretary General, Klaus Topfer, in his address cited Bangladesh as a model of environmental management and expressed his optimism that Dhaka could be a probable success story in combating climate change if the global community came up with an urgent programme to rescue this worst-hit country impacted adversely by abrupt weather phenomenon and sea-level rise.
US Under Secretary of Environment, Paula Dobriansky, also commended Bangladesh’s efforts to face adverse impacts of climate change.

FEJB Feature. Quamrul Islam Chowdhury is Chief Reporter and Special Correspondent of BSS and Chairman of Forum of Environmental Journalists of Bangladesh (FEJB) and Asia-Pacific Forum of Environmental Journalists (APFEJ)

Article published in INTERNET EDITION: HOLIDAY (Environment and Activism)
on COP 10
Milan COP 9