Important issues still need to be worked out before Durban
BONN, GERMANY (June 17, 2011) – As the latest round of United Nations climate talks ends today in Bonn, CARE International urges Parties to speed up the negotiations in the six months leading to the climate change conference in Durban. This round of talks has shown how political delaying tactics can keep Parties from tackling the major challenges of global emission reductions and finance for responding to climate change.
“At the moment, the negotiations are moving at a glacial pace. Parties are spending copious amounts of time on the details, which they need to get right, but we’re still missing the ambitious emissions reduction and finance commitments that are the foundation for those details. It is fine to decorate the cake, but you have to bake it too,” comments Tonya Rawe, CARE’s Senior Policy Advocate.
In Bonn, there were few commitments on the areas negotiators did discuss. “Parties need to buckle down for the next round of talks. They must not repeat their long procedural debates nor should they backtrack from their commitments made in Cancún,” comments Rawe. For example, the Cancún agreements commit to establishing a system for safeguards for REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation); yet in Bonn, all negotiators could agree on was a vague list of topics that they will discuss the next time they meet.
“There is a lot of work to do before Durban. We need to see ambitious and binding emission reductions by developed countries and supported actions by developing countries to move toward low carbon development. We also need bold actions to put key policies into place. Parties must put aside political delaying tactics,“ Rawe says. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we can’t keep fiddling while it burns either. The longer we wait, the more millions of poor women and men will suffer from the devastating impacts of climate change.”
Read more on the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn
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About CARE: Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education, health and economic opportunity.