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Late-breaking news: the weekend edition

Daniel C. Esty, a former US negotiator in the lead up to the UNFCCC agreement at UNCED and now Director of the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy, says no progress in the climate change regime has been made in many important respects apart from the move to binding commitments in the Protocol. He says there is still no serious structure for emissions reductions that are likely to be achieved. "The Kyoto targets are not connected to the reality of the underlying problem and are likely to be missed, further eroding confidence in the process." Mr.Esty told the ENB that negotiators continue to fail to attend to the North South dynamic and the need to focus on getting the developing world engaged in the process in a way that is serious and fair. He called for a global comprehensive approach with a 30-40 year time frame.

International trade and the Kyoto Protocol: conflict or confluence

The United Nations University and the Global Environment Information Center convened a Special Event on international trade and the Kyoto Protocol Saturday. Laura Campbell, Fulbright Fellow, Faculty of Law, Sophia University, Tokyo, identified areas of potential conflict between climate and trade regimes, notably the WTO, and possibilities for mutually reinforcing measures. She called for more careful consideration of these issues by governments engaged in climate change negotiations. Daniel C Esty, Director, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, addressed the far reaching consequences of the climate change regime for the price structure of most products and the importance of addressing ‘competitiveness stress’ in designing the Kyoto mechanisms. He also advocated the use of trade as an enforcement tool and called for a tiered system of obligations involving all the Parties to the UNFCCC. Jacob Werksman, Managing Director and Senior Lawyer, FIELD, UK, provided an update on the negotiations of a Multilateral Agreement on Investment and outlined possible tensions arising from implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.

For more information see Global Climate Governance: A Report on the Inter-linkages between the Kyoto Protocol and other Multilateral Regimes prepared by the United Nations University, the Global Environment Information Centre and the UNU Institute of Advanced Studies. Information about the project is available at http://www.geic.or.jp/ and the report is available at http://www.geic.or.jp/climgov/index.html.

6estylav_s.jpg (12103 bytes) Right: Daniel Esty and Lavanya Rajamani

raworld.gif (1544 bytes) Daniel Esty talks to Lavanya Rajamani and Peter Doran of the ENB about the relationship between the climate change and trade regimes and gives an assessment of the negotiations in Buenos Aires. Esty is a former US negotiator.

Project web sites:


A Southern Perspective on the CDM

The Center for Science and the Environment (CSE, http://www.oneworld.org/cse/) held a side event giving a Southern Perspective on the CDM. Anil Kumar Agarwal (cse@sdalt.ernet.in) stressed the need for an "ecologically effective" international mechanism to promote a rapid transition to a non-carbon energy economy and cautioned developing countries against getting locked into a fossil fuel-dependent economy. He said equity is only possible through entitlements whereby emissions limits are set for all countries. He urged G-77/China countries to be more aggressive in their efforts to work together with the EU on issues related to the CDM, particularly with respects to caps on emission trading.

6cseuse_s.jpg (5608 bytes) Left: Anil Kumar Agarwal, CSE, speaks on the Southern perspective on the CDM.

 


6teriteri_s.jpg (6381 bytes) Preeti Soni, TERI (http://www.teriin.org/), India, gives a presentation during a special event on guiding principles for long term commitments and policy issues related to the CDM, outlining the criteria for CDM projects from a developing country perspective, and what role governments, including local, should play

Scenes from a World Council of Churches ecumenical celebration on the theme of climate change in Buenos Aires on Sunday, 8 November.

6estraser_s.jpg (8128 bytes) COP-3 President Raoul Estrada during and after his address to the Ecumenical Celebration on the theme of climate change. The service was organized by the World Council of Churches. 6estraser2_s.jpg (12155 bytes)

Miscellaneous photos

6eutable_s.jpg (9689 bytes) Delegates from EU member countries in front of the table where EU position papers on climate change are available

 

 


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