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The divide between the North and the South surfaced once again at the start of the Climate change talks. On the issue of “shared vision” the developing countries called for an inclusive approach to the shared vision encompassing the issues of adaptation, transfer of technologies, and finance from the North to the South. This has led to the discussions on shared vision as one of the most contentious issues. The developed countries like the EU and Japan argued for setting a long term global goal for emissions cuts so that it will set the directions for future actions, on the other hand, many developing countries expressed that it will be too early to set such goals because it may include targets for the developing countries, which the developing countries clearly does not want at this stage. Moreover, they also argue that the before setting any long term plans, it is imperative to set forth a technological and financial plans for the developing countries. Even the setting up of medium term and long term goals were proposed by the developing countries.
In the midst of all these discussions, the developing countries have heavily criticized the EU for not pressing hard enough with their agenda and not putting up any concrete plans for the future directions. This was a result of their backtracking on various issues. While they proposed at different points on the future targets on financing and technology transfers, but their current delegation is yet to commit to any financing on adaptation and mitigation in the South. Again the European parliament which earlier voted to set aside substantial revenues for adaptation and mitigation purposes in the developing countries, many EU member states are yet to commit a single cent to those revenues.
The Indian delegation has unambiguously stated in the discussion related to contact group that the idea of shared vision is already established in the provisions of the Convention under Article 2. Dr. Prodipto Ghosh on the occasion pointed out the fact that Article 2 consists of three elements. First, it prescribes a method which is in line with the relevant provisions of the Convention. Second, it calls for stabilization of the GHGs concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. This emphasizes on the historical emissions and the cumulative emissions of the Parties that goes along with the contribution of the stock of GHG in the atmosphere. Thirdly, it includes specific criteria for the timeframe within which the stabilization must be achieved. Dr. Ghosh further argued that the shared vision should include all the elements of the BAP, especially it should address and recognize the importance of Right to development and Equity aspects. On one of the Side events, representative of the delegation pointed out that the whole issue of trade on emissions is fallacious. He pointed out that there are no such concepts of surplus emissions for a country to trade with. If it does exist, it will use it for its own growth purposes. Also on the issue of setting long term goals, India supported the views expressed by the countries like Bangladesh saying that the long term goals will have no effect on reducing the GHGs unless embedded in medium term target for GHG reduction commitments. Dr. Ghosh pointed out that ever since 2000; the emissions of the developed countries have increased steadily.
On an extended discussion on the shared vision, US have come in support of the shared vision targets set up by the EU for 2050. It is important to note that US had not supported such view earlier. Though the countries are slightly skeptical about the US commitments due to the present political transition. Bolivia, taking the floor for the first time argued that the climate change has its roots in the very system of capitalism. The capitalist system has been instrumental in destroying the planet and creation of asymmetries in the world which generates unequal exploitation of resources. Everything is converted to goods and commodities. They stressed that there is already established shared vision in the provisions of the Convention that requires the meeting of the commitments of the developed countries. Emission reductions in the developed countries should be deep and equivalent to the historical responsibilites. Technology for addressing climate change should be in the public domain and no patent rights should be provided to such technologies. They also argued that the financial resources mobilized for solving the climate change problem should be in tune with the financial crisis related mobilization. There is a real need for the change in the mode of production and consumption to make the world equitable.
December 5, 2008
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