Urgent: Pay the climate debt | The Jakarta Post

Urgent: Pay the climate debt | The Jakarta Post: "Urgent: Pay the climate debt

Hira P. Jhamtani , Gianyar, Bali | Sat, 09/12/2009 1:50 PM | Opinion

The article 'Urgent: Improved Climate Talks' by Hadi Soesastro (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 5, 2009) provides an interesting insight into the current climate change negotiations on at least two fronts. First is the role of the so-called 'major developing countries or major emerging economies'.

Second, about the relationship between negotiations under the UNFCCC, the official UN body for climate change negotiations, with the many initiatives that are taken outside it. Soesastro's concluding sentence raises an alarm.

He says, 'The UNFCCC process of negotiations may indeed resemble the process of multilateral trade negotiations under the WTO. Kyoto was the first round, Copenhagen the second round, to be followed by further rounds of negotiations that hopefully will take place under a progressively improved climate for negotiations.' This is alarming, as the climate change issue cannot wait for protracted negotiations that are characteristic of the multilateral trade negotiations such as the World Trade Organizations.

Already climate change is creating havoc for the poorest communities, especially in developing countries and even for entire nations such as small island ones. Climate change is not a"