BALI MEETING STAKES OUT PATH TO GLOBAL CLIMATE AGREEMENT

A global meeting has approved a roadmap for negotiations on a new agreement to tackle climate change, bringing all countries onboard.

Close to 12,000 people convened in Bali, Indonesia, from 3-15 December, at the largest climate meeting to date under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). On 15 December, after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the President of Indonesia joined in a last-minute effort to strike a deal, representatives of 187 countries adopted the "Bali Action Plan" following drawn-out and often tense negotiations. The new action plan sets the stage for a two-year negotiating process leading to a new legally-binding instrument to replace the Kyoto Protocol after 2012.

While countries previously were fragmented in their approach to climate change - with the US in a league of its own after pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 - all now signed onto a common approach to climate mitigation. Large emerging economies will also participate in the effort, in ways yet to be specified. At the close of the meeting, Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda stressed that "Here in Bali we reached a consensus, global consensus for all countries. No single country was excluded, in a very inclusive process...we hope it will provide not only a good basis but also the momentum in the coming years."

Many commentators from civil society cautiously welcomed the Bali Action Plan. Elliot Diringer, Director of International Strategies Pew Center on Global Climate Change in the US said the deal "It puts no one on the hook right now for emission reductions. What's important, though, is that it lets no one off the hook either. It challenges all governments to confront the tough issues ahead and opens the way for the first time to a comprehensive negotiation of post-2012 commitments."

The Bali meeting also agreed to step up technology transfer, funding for climate adaptation in developing countries, and to compensate developing countries for protecting their forests.

For further details on the meeting and the Bali Action Plan, see Bridges Trade Biores, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/07-12-18/story1.htm

ICTSD reporting; "UN Breakthrough on climate change reached in Bali," UNFCCC RELEASE, 15 December 2007; "Climate Plan Looks Beyond Bush's Tenure," NYT, 16 December 2007; "Bali climate talks a huge step forward: R K Pachauri," TIMES OF INDIA, 16 December 2007.