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BALI,
Indonesia—As the UN’s conference on climate change kicks
off Monday, Indonesian police authorities are on full
alert to guard the safety of more than 10,000 world
leaders and ministers, including business, media and
nongovernment organizations from 185 countries, plus
Australian’s newly elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and
US former Vice President and 2007 Nobel Prize winner Al
Gore.
The UN’s
Framework on Climate Change Convention 2007 (UNFCCC),
which runs from December 3 to 14, aims to negotiate a
road map for cuts in carbon emissions from 2012, when
current pledges under the Kyoto Protocol expire.
With
memories of the
Bali bombings
allegedly staged by the militant Jema’ah Islamiyah
network in 2002 and in 2005 that left 222 people dead,
police officials said more than 7,000 police were
deployed to
Bali to secure
the conference proceedings until December 14.
“We
don’t want to take any chances, so the police as well as
the military will be on full alert to ensure the smooth
flow of the climate-change summit,” said Major General
Syaiful Rizal, head of the military command, adding that
airports and seaports in Bali were already under
tightened security controls as early as last month.
Conference participants, Rizal said, should expect to
encounter an unprecedented level of security measures at
the airport, hotels and public places across Bali.
Last
month, the US Embassy in
Jakarta
issued a warning to its citizens of a “continued
security threat in Indonesia” posed by terrorists.
Underlining the highly politicized nature of the
conference, the embassy warned its citizens coming to
Bali during the
summit period that “demonstrations in connection with
this high-profile conference could begin at any time.”
Climate-change talks
Yvo de
Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said the Bali
summit has to constitute the starting point for the
appropriate political response to the findings of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC
recently made clear beyond doubt that climate change is
a reality and can seriously harm the future development
of our economies, societies and ecosystems worldwide. It
suggests that immediate action be taken to prevent the
most severe impacts of climate change.
“In
order to avoid a gap between the end of the Kyoto
Protocol’s first commitment period in 2012 and the entry
into force of a new framework, negotiations need to
conclude in 2009 to allow enough time for ratification.
The conference will thus have to set in motion the
negotiating agenda for the next two years,” Boer
explained.
Boer
said the UN has identified four “building blocks for a
future climate-change regime”: adaptation, mitigation,
technology cooperation at the heart of the response, and
financing the response to climate change.
The
UNFCCC said in a statement: “The main goal of the Bali
Conference is to deliver this necessary breakthrough and
get negotiations going on a new international
climate-change agreement. The summit will not deliver a
fully negotiated and agreed climate deal but is aimed to
set the necessary wheels in motion.”
Currently, 137 countries have ratified the protocol, but
have no obligation beyond monitoring and reporting
emissions. Signing countries such as China, India and
Canada have yet to face serious responsibilities under
the Kyoto Protocol.
Australian Prime Minister Rudd, who reportedly promised
to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol, which will
oblige the country to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by
5 percent from the 1990 level, is expected to attend the
summit.
Meanwhile, the
United States,
so far the largest emitter, says it will continue to
oppose mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,
especially if
China
and India refuse to budge.
Other
important issues will be under negotiation in Bali,
including adaptation to climate change, the launch of a
fund for adaptation, reducing emissions from
deforestation, issues relating to the carbon
market,
and arrangements for a review of the Kyoto Protocol. |
