The next round of climate talks in December is likely to be a tough one — pitting developing countries against the developed world. Pushing for a level playing field, India has asked the United Nations to address the developing nations’ concerns when climate talks are held in Durban, South Africa.
After showing flexibility at the Cancun talks, India is pushing for an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime for developing countries to have access to costly clean western technologies. The Cancun agreements were silent on IPR issue.
The December 2010 talks also mentioned “equity” without defining it. India has defined it as a right to have equal access to global atmospheric space - something opposed by the developed countries.
A lot of issues absolutely important to India were left out at Cancun, said Chandra Bhushan, executive director of NGO Centre for Science and Environment. “It is important that India brings equity and technology issues to the negotiating table which will allow it to move faster towards low carbon growth,” he said.
In an eight-page proposal submitted to the UN's convention on climate change - the world body's decision-making arm on climate talks — at Panama City, India has sought a “facilitative IPR regime”, linked equity with access to sustainable development and called for a bar on imposing “unfair trade practices in the name of climate protection”. Equity should be the basis of climate deals.
Cancun agreements didn’t address the concerns of developing countries and their resolution would be key to “unlocking agreements” in other areas, India has said. The Durban meet should give a timeframe for resolving the issues.
The European Union’s and other developed countries’ move to impose a carbon tax (euro 2.5 per passenger) on flights departing from European airports will be contested at Durban.
The conference should prohibit rich countries from taking unilateral measures in the name of climate protection, India has said, seeking “unambiguous and firm commitment” from the developed world on the matter. “Such unfair measures can lead to fragmented... and sub-optimal climate policy,” it said.
Tuesday
UK set for high end climate costs, as floods spread
UK is likely to feel bigger costs from climate change than most other EU countries, a report concludes.
Rising sea levels are likely to impact the nation harder than most, negating economic benefits from increased tourism and possibly farm yields.
The findings come from a study funded by the European Commission, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
It projects a net cost for most EU nations, but a net benefit for a few.
Scandinavian countries and the Baltic states should be better off, it finds, largely through increased opportunities for agriculture.
Researchers looked at climatic conditions likely to apply in 2080, and asked how present-day economies would fare if those climatic conditions were here now.
It addresses five issues - agriculture, river floods, coastal areas, tourism and human health - which the team acknowledges is a limitation.
"We know little at EU level or at member state level about implications of climate change in the economy," said Juan-Carlos Ciscar from the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies in Seville, Spain.
"Climate change is happening, we need to adapt to it, so we need to know which sectors will be affected and why so we can establish adaptation policies - which means minimising impacts, but also taking advantage of opportunities," he told BBC News.
Southern accent
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
If things changed more we could introduce crops and systems more fitting now to a Mediterranean climate - grapes, for example”
End Quote
Professor Ana Iglesias
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
In 2004, the European Council asked the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) to analyse these costs and benefits as far as possible.
Dr Ciscar's institute is part of the JRC and led the project, which involved commissioning new models of some types of climate impact.
Overall, they calculate, EU citizens would be on average 0.2-1.0% worse off were climatic conditions projected for 2080 to apply now.
But that headline figure conceals big regional differences.
To simplify matters a little, they divided EU nations into five geographical blocs: southern Europe, central Europe south, central Europe north, northern Europe, and the British Isles.
The most heavily affected region is southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria), for which the models project drops in agricultural yield of up to a quarter, major increases in coastal flooding, and a small drop in tourism revenue.
Rising sea levels are likely to impact the nation harder than most, negating economic benefits from increased tourism and possibly farm yields.
The findings come from a study funded by the European Commission, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
It projects a net cost for most EU nations, but a net benefit for a few.
Scandinavian countries and the Baltic states should be better off, it finds, largely through increased opportunities for agriculture.
Researchers looked at climatic conditions likely to apply in 2080, and asked how present-day economies would fare if those climatic conditions were here now.
It addresses five issues - agriculture, river floods, coastal areas, tourism and human health - which the team acknowledges is a limitation.
"We know little at EU level or at member state level about implications of climate change in the economy," said Juan-Carlos Ciscar from the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies in Seville, Spain.
"Climate change is happening, we need to adapt to it, so we need to know which sectors will be affected and why so we can establish adaptation policies - which means minimising impacts, but also taking advantage of opportunities," he told BBC News.
Southern accent
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
If things changed more we could introduce crops and systems more fitting now to a Mediterranean climate - grapes, for example”
End Quote
Professor Ana Iglesias
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
In 2004, the European Council asked the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) to analyse these costs and benefits as far as possible.
Dr Ciscar's institute is part of the JRC and led the project, which involved commissioning new models of some types of climate impact.
Overall, they calculate, EU citizens would be on average 0.2-1.0% worse off were climatic conditions projected for 2080 to apply now.
But that headline figure conceals big regional differences.
To simplify matters a little, they divided EU nations into five geographical blocs: southern Europe, central Europe south, central Europe north, northern Europe, and the British Isles.
The most heavily affected region is southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria), for which the models project drops in agricultural yield of up to a quarter, major increases in coastal flooding, and a small drop in tourism revenue.
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