Forest Carbon

Rich countries have ‘double duty’: Oxfam

Klipping: Mohamad Rayan

Adianto P. Simamora , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Wed, 06/17/2009 9:11 AM National
With climate talks on financing methods remaining unsettled, Oxfam International proposed a non-market-based mechanism requiring rich nations to perform a “double duty”: Pay developing countries to mitigate climate change and cut their own greenhouse gas emissions.

Under Oxfam’s Global Mitigation and Finance Mechanism, recipient countries with a per capita purchasing power of less than US$1,000 a year have no binding targets to cut their emissions.
Oxfam predicted that rich nations should allocate at least $150 billion per year to fund climate change mitigation in developing countries, the main victims of the effects of global warming.

“It is a fair deal that when rich countries keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, they can also deliver resources to help the poor avoid the impact of climate change,” Rully Prayoga, Oxfam International climate campaigner for the East Asian region told reporters on Tuesday.

“Indonesia, with a per capita purchasing power of about $661 a year, should get full support from Global Mitigation and Finance Mechanism.”

Oxfam proposed the mechanism after climate negotiators remained in a deadlock on financial mechanism issues to fund the mitigation during the recent Bonn climate conference.
Rully said that the rich nations disagreed on whether a mitigation fund would also be allocated to rich oil countries in the Middle East.

“We offer a win-win solution to bridge the expected negotiation deadlock in the upcoming Copenhagen meeting in December. Hopefully, the Indonesian government can take the lead to push the concept to the negotiation table,” Rully said.

“An agreement struck at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in just six months could pave way for a post-2012 climate regime that staves off catastrophic climate change.”
Under the Oxfam mechanism, the wealthier countries like Singapore and Qatar are not eligible to receive the fund.

But, China and India with its huge population living in poverty, should benefit from the Oxfam mechanism.

The rich nations, including the United States have repeatedly asked emerging nations like China, India and Brazil to have legally binding targets for emission cuts.
Under Oxfam’s mechanism, rich nations would need to reduce their emissions to at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The rich nations are currently required to cut about 5 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions from their 1990 levels to deal with climate change, as stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol.
The Kyoto Protocol however, allows developing countries to host green projects under the clean development mechanism (CDM) to help rich nations meet their binding targets.
Indonesia has about 100 CDM projects but only three of them can receive financing from rich nations.

The international community is currently discussing the forestry mechanism to deal with greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) scheme, Indonesia, as the world’s third-largest forest nation, is set to benefit greatly from carbon trading.
Oxfam’s analysis showed that more than 95 percent of industrialized countries failed to reach their emissions cut target.Under Oxfam’s mechanism, rich nations would need to reduce their emissions to at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.