Climate Consensus at Cancún
Following 2009’s meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, a new deal has been struck at last month’s negotiations in Cancun, Mexico.
After two weeks of negotiating, delegates agreed a compromise that will see all countries committed to cutting emissions for the first time. The "Cancun package" also sets up a "green fund" to help poor countries cope with climate change and a new plan to curtail deforestation.
The package will see all countries committed to keeping temperature rise below 2C (3.6F) by reducing their emissions. Rich countries have agreed to consider an extension of the Kyoto Protocol while poorer countries will sign up to emission cuts for the first time.
There have already been criticisms of the package. Bolivia argued that the agreement was "tantamount to genocide" because it isn’t extensive enough to stop dangerous global warming.
According to Pablo Solon, a Bolivian ambassador present at the UNFCCC talks, “Many commentators have called the Cancún accord a ‘step in the right direction.’ We disagree: it is a giant step backwards.
“The text replaces binding mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions with voluntary pledges that are wholly insufficient. These pledges contradict the stated goal of capping the rise in temperature at 2C, instead guiding us to 4C or more. The text is full of loopholes for polluters, opportunities for expanding carbon markets and similar mechanisms – like the forestry scheme Redd – that reduce the obligation of developed countries to act.”
Eventually, in a bid to avoid the kind of indecision that dogged 2009’s negotiations, the UN decision was made without the agreement of Bolivia.