Activists call on developed countries to take more responsibility

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 07/28/2010 9:11 AM | National -

Indonesian Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) executive director Fabby Tumiwa said in a recent discussion that current emissions levels would lead to an increase in average global temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius by 2050.

Although world leaders agreed to a temperature increase of less than 2 degrees under the Copenhagen Accord, an agreement initiated by US President Barack Obama with China and other countries to tackle climate change last year, the commitment would not succeed in doing so, he said.

“We could be looking at a global temperature rise of 3 degrees Celsius, and there are estimates it could reach 4 degrees. Consequently, climate change will have heavier impacts as well as be more expensive to overcome,” Fabby said at a press conference during the launch of the climate justice campaign through climate debt postcard.

Currently, 70 percent of world emissions is produced by several developed countries comprising only 20 percent of the world’s population.

Fabby said that apart from cutting their emissions, developed countries should be required to provide developing countries such as Indonesia with financial and technological assistance,

“We need to develop, but we have limited atmospheric space because we cannot directly implement low-carbon technologies due to the cost. At the same time, we are also spending a lot to adapt to climate change,” he said. Fabby will be part of Indonesia’s delegation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany, from Aug. 2 to 4.

Muhammad Teguh Surya from the Indonesian Civil Society Forum (CSF) for Climate Justice said the increasing number of bilateral agreements between developed and developing countries following the Copenhagen Accord, including between Norway and Indonesia, sidestepped more substantial issues.

Norway and Indonesia recently signed a letter of intent (LoI) to reduce deforestation in Indonesia. Indonesia is required to stop launching new permits for exploiting natural forests as well carbon-rich peat land from 2011 to 2012, while Norway will pay financial incentives for the total emissions reduced through by reducing deforestation.

“This is a bad precedent for vulnerable communities in developing countries, while a good one for Annex I *developed* countries as it frees them from global responsibilities,” he said.

The UNFCCC’s Annex I includes 40 industrialized countries, such as the US, Germany, UK, Japan, France, Canada and Australia.

“To anticipate worse disasters, there should be a global force that can urge these countries to cut their emissions and fulfill their responsibilities as required by the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol,” Surya said.

In an effort to demand that developed countries cut their emissions, IESR and CSF initiated a campaign on climate justice targeting world leaders, including issuing 5,000 postcards with messages to be sent to leaders of developed countries, including the US, UK, Japan, Australia and Canada.

The campaign will run until the UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties (COP) 16 in Mexico in November and December this year.

The postcards are also available online at www.iesr-indonesia.org/materi-kampanye/call-for-climate-justice. (lnd)

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