TWN
Info Service on Climate Change (Oct14/03)
13 October 2014
Third World Network
Investment
in adaptation is a contribution say BASIC
New Delhi, 13 Oct (Indrajit Bose) — Ministers and senior officials
from the BASIC countries underscored that investment in adaptation
by developing countries would represent an “adaptation contribution”
as part of their intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs).
In a joint statement issued on 10 October 2014 at the conclusion of
the 19th BASIC Ministerial meeting on climate change in
South Africa, the ministers and senior officials from Brazil, South
Africa, China and India also indicated that national adaptation plans
(NAPs) could be the basis for Parties’ adaptation INDCs.
(At the Conference of the Parties in Warsaw (COP19), Parties agreed
that they would “initiate or intensify domestic preparations for
their intended nationally determined contributions …and to communicate
them well in advance of the 21st session of the Conference of the
Parties (in Paris) (by the first quarter of 2015 by those Parties
ready to do so…”.)
The ministers and officials also said that adaptation requires a global
response and is “as important as mitigation”. They added that adaptation
needs would be driven by the extent of adverse effects of climate
change now and in future.
Stressing on the importance of reaching an agreement in Lima, Peru
(in December this year) on elements for a draft negotiating text for
the 2015 agreement, as well as the information that they will provide
when putting forward their INDCs, they reiterated that INDCs must
cover mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and
transfer and capacity-building, in line with Parties’ respective commitments
under the Convention.
They also wanted clarity on how developing countries would be supported
in the implementation of their contributions under the 2015 agreement,
given the crucial socio-economic challenges their countries face,
and they hoped that the UNFCCC meeting of the COP in Lima would provide
them this clarity. “The 2015 agreement must establish a clear link
between the actions by developing countries to contribute to effectively
addressing the climate change challenge and the scale of finance,
technology and capacity-building support required by them for implementation,”
the joint statement reads.
The ministerial meeting was attended by Edna Molewa, Minister of Environmental
Affairs of South Africa, Xie Zhenhua, Vice Chairman of the National
Development and Reform Commission of China, Ashok Lavasa, Secretary
of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change of India
and José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho, Under Secretary-General for
the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology of the Ministry of
External Relations of Brazil.
The ministers also said the Lima COP (COP 20) must ensure adequate
resource allocation to the Adaptation Fund and the adaptation window
of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Referring to COP20 as an important
“important milestone for the successful conclusion of the negotiation
of the 2015 agreement”, the ministers called for strengthening the
multilateral rules-based regime under the Convention to achieve its
objective. The ministers reiterated that “as agreed at COP17 in Durban,
the 2015 agreement should be in accordance with the principles and
provisions of the Convention, in particular the principles of equity
and common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities.”
On the 2015 agreement, the ministers agreed that it must provide an
“inclusive, equitable and effective framework” within which Parties
can put forward their contributions to keep the world on a path to
limit the increase in average global temperatures to below 2° C. “The
agreement should allow Parties to progressively enhance their contributions,
without providing for regression on existing commitments,” the statement
reads. The elements of the 2015 agreement should reflect common and
differentiated commitments related to mitigation, adaptation, finance,
technology transfer and capacity building.
The ministers and senior officials reiterated at the 19th meeting
that all elements in Paragraph 5 of the Durban COP decision—mitigation,
adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, transparency
of action and support, and capacity—should be treated in a balanced
manner in the 2015 agreement (Paragraph 5 of the Durban decision reads: …decides
that the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced
Action [ADP] shall plan its work in the first half
of 2012, including, inter alia, on mitigation, adaptation, finance,
technology development and transfer, transparency of action and support,
and capacity-building…).
The ministers also emphasised that existing institutions and mechanisms
under the Convention should be further strengthened beyond 2020. There
should be provisions to strengthen institutional linkages between
the Adaptation Committee, Technology Executive Committee, Standing
Committee on Finance, GCF and other operating entities of the Convention’s
financial mechanism.
The ministers agreed that the 2015 agreement should ensure transparency,
minimise the ambition gaps, and keep its implementation under review,
in accordance with the principles and provisions of the Convention.
On pre-2020 ambition gap, the ministers highlighted the need for enhanced
ambition and said that delivery of existing commitments by developed
country Parties would contribute to enhancing trust and confidence
that is “indispensable for the successful conclusion of the 2015 agreement”.
The ministers also stressed that the developed countries need to provide
clearer indications on meeting their US$100 billion climate finance
commitment by 2020 along with “meaningful and substantial” contributions
to the GCF. While the ministers welcomed the announcements of some
developed countries for the initial capitalisation of the GCF, they
called on other developed countries to do so no later than the pledging
session for the initial resource mobilisation process of the Fund
in November 2014.
The ministers also reflected on the UN Secretary General’s Summit
in New York on 23 September 2014 and welcomed the “political momentum”
achieved at the meeting.
Brazil will host the next ministerial meeting in the first semester
of 2015.
