U.N. Climate Talks Support Forests
U.N. delegates said progress is pulling ahead on ways to slow deforestation in developing countries, during climate talks in Ghana.
"It’s moving pretty well now," said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat.
He said the discussions are defining the building blocks of a new U.N. global warming pact to be solidified by the end of 2009.
"We’re getting beyond some of the rhetoric," he said of the 160-nation meeting among about 1,500 delegates. "People are beginning to understand each other better."
The Accra meeting is the third session this year under an over-arching plan to come together on a broad new climate treaty by the end of 2009.
The agreement will succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which sets greenhouse gas targets for 37 developed nations.
Accra is focusing on ways to encourage developing nations in tropical areas of the world to decrease the rate of deforestation. Delegates are debating whether industries such as steel, aluminum or cement should have international benchmarks for efficiency.
"The Accra meeting has been very successful so far," said Luiz Figueiredo Machado, a Brazilian expert chairing talks on new ways for countries ranging from the United States to China to cut back on emissions.
No final agreements are expected to arise out of Accra.
When the last session ended in Germany during June, many delegates said the climate talks were falling behind.
"The chances that it (a new U.N. scheme to slow deforestation) will go ahead, in my mind, are much higher," said Machado.
He said that there was an "overwhelming consensus" on the overall significance of the project.
Emily Brickell, forest campaigner with the WWF environmental group, said it could cost roughly $20 to $30 billion a year to set up a system to safeguard tropical forests. Funding could come from a combination of carbon markets or donors.
The debates are also seeking to bridge differences about imposing sectoral targets for industries, an idea championed this year by Japan.
However, developing nations are worried benchmarks could be a backdoor way to impose trade barriers on less efficient producers of metals or cement. Some industries are still hurt by the collapse of world trade talks in July.
Japan clearly stated during the talks that it did not favor imposing common international standards.
"What I saw and heard in our debates on sectoral actions and approaches was a very fruitful debate," Machado said. "It clarified the issue."
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