Barcelona, 4 November (Josie Lee) -- Tensions rose in discussions on enhanced action on capacity-building in the contact group under the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as developing countries were frustrated by the lack of progress at the climate talks in Barcelona.

Co-chaired by Mr. Georg B ¸rsting of Norway, the discussions on Tuesday moved at a slow pace for the first hour with the Co-chair detailing his proposed approach and posing a series of broader questions to the group, followed by questions and statements from the United States and others.

This delayed movement in reviewing the non-paper #24 produced to advance work on capacity building.

(Under the Bali Action Plan, Parties agreed that developing countries would, in the context of sustainable development, supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity building, undertake nationally appropriate mitigation actions and adaptation efforts.)

The Co-chair began the Barcelona talks on capacity building by stating that he believed that Parties had made good progress in Bangkok and that there had been convergence on the scope and principles. He said that he wanted to move from the non-paper to a negotiating text.

The United States said that it needed to know what ‘enhanced implementation of the Convention' (proposed in the text by G77 and China) actually is before it can discuss implementation.

Japan furthered this sentiment by asking what kind of capacity building actions will be required for implementation.

In response to these questions Tanzania on behalf of the G77 and China said that this issue had already been raised and that if they wanted to understand what ‘enhanced implementation' is, they should refer to the Bali Action Plan which launched the process for full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention. Tanzania stressed that discussions need to focus on key aspects of the document.

South Africa exclaimed that it was getting very disturbed by the lack of progress in the meeting. It said that developing countries are explaining why they included proposals, “when we have already done this in previous discussions”. It said that they had been there over an hour and got nowhere.

South Africa said that it was struggling to participate in those meetings as there are many clashes. It is trying to finish the work of capacity building so it can focus on other things. It said that is was very frustrating to have things repeated in discussions when Parties missed a session (referring to Japan and the United States who were absent from some discussions in Bangkok).

Ghana echoed the sentiments of South Africa, saying they had had long question times on these things in previous sessions and that they were dealing with the same questions. It questioned how the group can move forward.

Tanzania on behalf of the G77 and China said it had refrained from the question and answer session as it thought the discussions had gone beyond that point. It said that the Group's frustration is about how the session was being chaired. It thinks questions and answers will never end. The G77 and China are unhappy with this approach. It said that “we know the issues; the issues have been explained many times. Capacity building is very important for us, so we want to move onto the text”.

Co-chair B ¸rsting said he did not invite a question and answer session, but rather some discussion of new proposals and reactions to those. He thinks the discussion has raised issues that Parties should reflect on and discuss amongst themselves before the informal meeting. He said he will try and move into more detailed discussion of the text.

South Africa asked how the Co-chair intended to move forward in the informal in the afternoon as understanding this will help inform it about participation in the afternoon.

Co-Chair B ¸rsting said he would like to proceed section by section, highlighting areas where there is need for clarity and to identify where options are not captured. So a question and answer discussion is not needed as Parties can talk amongst themselves, but noted that questions do come up in the course of discussions.

 

TWN Barcelona News Update No.7
4 November 2009
Published by Third World Network

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