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What access to water as human right implies – Kamuntu

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What access to water as human right implies – Kamuntu

In January 2015, over 300 people converged on Zaragoza, Spain to take part in the International Annual UN–Water Zaragoza Conference. The conference was used as an occasion to analyse water-related SDGs and the role of the different actors for their implementation. While addressing the participants, Leo Heller, UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, called for deference and implementation of access to safe water and sanitation as a human right.

To find out what safe water and sanitation as a human right means to governments and people in developing countries, Fredrick Mugira interviewed Uganda’s minister for water and environment, Professor Ephraim Kamuntu. Prof. Kamuntu is a Ugandan economist and politician.

 

Uganda’s minister for water and environment, Professor Ephraim Kamuntu. Photo credit: redpepper.co.ug
Uganda’s minister for water and environment, Professor Ephraim Kamuntu. Photo credit: redpepper.co.ug

Mugira: Why would you consider access to safe water and sanitation a human right?

Kamuntu: Without water which is the basic necessity for your life, you can’t survive. For all your joints and bones to turn, it is because they are lubricated with water and water takes oxygen to almost every cell in your body. As a result of the centrality of water in your life, anyone who denies you access to water denies you access to life. That is why it is taken as a human right and when you are treating accessibility to water, you treat it as if indeed to deny it you have violated the very existence of the human.

 

Mugira: What does the human right to water and sanitation mean to people in developing countries? Will this translate into increased demand for water and subsequent water access?

Kamuntu: Yes. You know why they don’t demand for it? It is because, in their head, water comes as rain and rain comes from heaven and it is God-given. So if it is God-given, whom are you going to ask? Maybe you pray to God for rain, but the time is going to come when local people shall demand for their right to water and sanitation.

 

Mugira: What should governments and people in developing countries do to realise the human rights to water and sanitation?

Kamuntu: Given the centrality of water and sanitation, the first priority of government in its budget should be defence and water. Defence because without peace everything else breaks down but with peace, your next priority should be water. Because first for your own human survive, secondly because of its centrality to the rest of the economy.

Using the example of Uganda, if you harvested surface water that runs during rainy season, if you harvested rain running off the roofs of these houses plus piped water plus shallow wells plus boreholes plus gravity water, you would get 100 percent water coverage in this country, I have no doubt in my mind. But the mind-set must be addressed that this can be done both at individual level, household as well as institutional level and government. Secondly as a result of this mind-set, there is low prioritisation of water when it comes to funding within even the machinery of government. Why? Because people take water for granted. They don’t put their money. As a ministry we have been getting three percent of the total budget over the years.

 

Mugira: Why is access to water so important in the growth of developing countries?

Kamuntu: Water is essential for your human survival as a human being but equally important water is at the centre of every development agenda across sectors. Agriculture which is the backbone of our economy, simply the production and productivity in agriculture is dependent on availability of water. Livestock, all these animals, anything animal can only survive if it has water and when it comes to industry, agro processing, I will tell you an example: to process one litre of milk in some dairy factories in Uganda, you need 40 litres of water indicating to you that industrialisation and agro processing of these countries critically depends on availability of water. Fishing, tourism, health, mention it, all need water. Then the other pillar which is environmental, the environment which is the linkage that links with the rest is dependent on the availability of water. Wetlands, shorelines, lakes that is nothing but water.

 

Mugira: How is lack of water access affecting productivity of third world countries?

Kamuntu: For instance in Uganda right now, we have two types of populations affected differently. We have the urban population. In urban population most people have access to water. In fact, we put the distance of accessing water in urban areas at 0.2 kilometres. Seventy-seven percent of Uganda’s urban population has water. When you go to rural areas and the statistics we use is one kilometre distance to water source. Here, 65 percent has access to water. Thirty-five percent will have to walk more than one kilometre to get to the source of water. It is not that they don’t have water but they will have to walk more distance to get it. The implication of that, 35 percent of 35 million Ugandans is almost 12 million. Your 12 million people have to trek more than one kilometre to get to the water source every day. Now if 35 percent of your population is simply spending nearly 80 percent of their time fetching water, when will you have any time to do productive work? This is partly why Uganda remains a Third World country because a lot of it population are still having no access to water.

Illegal wildlife trading shifts to social media platforms

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Illegal wildlife trading shifts to social media platforms

TRAFFIC’s e-commerce monitoring reveals shifting illegal wildlife trade market in China

Yannick Kuehl, TRAFFIC’s Regional Director for East and South Asia. Photo credit: n.linkedin.com
Yannick Kuehl, TRAFFIC’s Regional Director for East and South Asia. Photo credit: n.linkedin.com

Transactions for illegal wildlife products, particularly ivory, are shifting away from online retailers and onto social media platforms according to TRAFFIC’s research into the Chinese-language online retail community.

This is a key finding of a new report, Moving targets: Tracking online sales of illegal wildlife products in China, which discloses the results of routine market monitoring of China’s online retailers that began in 2006 and was released on Tuesday, the World Wildlife Day.

At its peak in March 2012, more than 4,000 new advertisements per month for illegal wildlife products were appearing online on Chinese language online retail websites, finds the new report. More than half of the illegal products offered comprised ivory items.

However, following advertisement removal and blocking of code words used to describe illegal products through regular exchange with e-commerce and enforcement agencies by TRAFFIC, this fell dramatically to around 1,500 from July 2012 and has remained around that level ever since.

“Major online retailers in China have been important allies in efforts to stamp out illegal wildlife trade, and their efforts have resulted in a sustained decrease in advertisements for such goods, yet the high number of such advertisements remains of concern and we are also seeing a shift in the way such transactions now take place,” said Zhou Fei, Head of TRAFFIC’s China Office.

One change has been an increase in the number of code words used by sellers to conceal the identity of their goods, from 15 code words used in 2012 to 64 identified and monitored by TRAFFIC today. At least 22 code words exist for ivory, including terms such as “African materials, yellow materials, white plastic, jelly”.

All 64 code words are searched each month by TRAFFIC on 25 e-commerce and antique selling websites for eight wildlife products — ivory, rhino horn, Tiger bone, hawksbill shells, pangolin scales, leopard bones, Saiga horn and Hornbill casques.

There has also been evidence of the move to social media, where dealers release photos and information about illegal wildlife products in order to attract and interact with potential customers. Some dealers also use “agents” to extend their audiences by re-posting the information about illegal wildlife products onto their own social media platform.

“The shift into the secretive world of social media marketing creates a whole new suite of challenges, with enforcement agencies constantly seeking to keep one step ahead of the traffickers,” said Yannick Kuehl, TRAFFIC’s Regional Director for East and South Asia.

“Monitoring and policing this underground marketplace must become a top enforcement priority—it appears criminals are using it to carry out their clandestine activities.”

China has the world’s biggest online community with an estimated $274.6 billion spent in online trade in 2014.
The number of new illegal wildlife products observed by TRAFFIC online fell dramatically, as did the total number of such advertisements: In January 2012, TRAFFIC discovered almost 30,000 advertisements for five illegal wildlife products on 15 websites then surveyed. This rose to more than 50,000 in the next two months but dropped again in April 2012 to around 30,000 after TRAFFIC contacted and shared the monitoring results with website managers, several of whom immediately deleted the identified advertisements.

Stakeholders outline expectations ahead of AMCEN

Michael Simire
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Stakeholders outline expectations ahead of AMCEN

Stakes are high for the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) that begins on Monday, March 2 in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo. AMCEN and African civil society groups expect that the conference will define a concrete blueprint that will guide the continent to discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be concluded in New York and Paris climate change conference that is likely to agree on a new climate change agreement, which will come into effect by 2020.

Participants at the pre-AMCEN staholders' forum
Participants at the pre-AMCEN staholders’ forum

“We want to crystalise a strong position when it comes to climate change and SDGs. We want to link environment with economy. We want to work on poverty eradication and job creation for our young population,” said Dr. Khaled Mohamed Fahmy Abdel Aal, Egyptian Minister of Environment. The minister spoke on Sunday March 1 at a pre-AMCEN major group and stakeholders’ forum.

Stakeholders expressed concerns that Africa was now more than ever before experiencing adverse consequences of climate change.

“Annual temperature is consistently increasing. We need to keep temperature lower than two degrees. For adaptation only we need between $7 to15 billion. If the trend continues by 2050, we will need $100 billion,” said Mounkaila Goumandakoye, Director and Regional Representative, UNEP-ROA.

At the forum, civil society stressed that it was crucial for AMCEN to develop a common assessment and analysis of international climate change dialogue processes, outcomes and consultations, to provide all-inclusive analysis of the latest Open Working Group on SDGs’ Environmental Sustainability Goal, and explore whether a stand-alone goal on climate change would be the best option for Africa in the ongoing debate on Post-2015 Development Agenda. The civil society also proposed that an assessment and analysis on Africa’s effort to address illegal wildlife and biodiversity trade as a way of natural resource conservation and management should be developed.

“The selection of the 15th AMCEN Session’s theme, ‘Managing Africa’s Natural Capital for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication,’ resonates with this year’s spirit, where two most important global agreements which will determine the future resource governance, will be concluded. AMCEN has been a central player in these two processes, and as civil society, we will continue playing our role within the limits of the space we have been accorded,” said Mithika Mwenda of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA).

Minister Khaled Mohamed, who will officially be assuming the presidency of AMCEN at the start of the conference, reiterated that a permanent partnership between the civil society and AMCEN was indispensable to achieve the demands of Africa in Paris and New York.

“We have challenges in Paris and New York. We will work very close with NGOs. I believe in the role of NGOs. We have to be strong and united. We all have to prepare and work on our plan together for Paris. Africa should stand together. We are rallying on the fastness of the NGOs,” the minister said.

The AMCEN is a permanent forum where African ministers of the environment discuss mainly matters of relevance to the environment of the continent. AMCEN was established in 1985 when African ministers met in Egypt and adopted the Cairo Programme for African Co-operation. The conference is convened every second year. The 15th session of AMCEN will run from the 2 to 6 March, 2015.

By Arison Tamfu in Cairo, Egypt

Lekan Fadina: Road to Paris 2015 (6)

Michael Simire
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Lekan Fadina: Road to Paris 2015 (6)

In Kyoto, Japan an international agreement (Protocol) was entered into by the delegates to the Third Session of the Conference of Parties under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December, 1997. This Agreement otherwise known as the Kyoto Protocol (KP) became operative on 25th February, 2005.

Prince Lekan Fadina
Prince Lekan Fadina

The KP set out a political blueprint for action to address the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to avoid what was described as “dangerous anthropogenic interference with climate change”.

The Protocol committed industrialised countries and countries in transition to a market economy to achieve emission reduction target. These countries known as Annex l Parties under the UNFCCC agreed to reduce their overall emissions to six GHGs by an average of five percent below 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012 (the first commitment period) with specific targets varying from country to country. Since then, there have been series of negotiations.

This piece is not to discuss extensively on the various negotiations tracks and or different challenges especially countries that have attempted to opt out of the agreement; rather, it is to help us have an understanding as to how we are witnessing transition from Kyoto Protocol to what may eventually lead to a more involving global Agreement.

It is pertinent to mention that, as we move towards COP 21 in Paris this year, the UN announced on 16th February, 2015 that “analysis shows that countries with targets under the Kyoto Protocol have collectively exceeded their original ambition.” The UNFCCC officials also said that “those countries who took on targets under the treaty have reduced their emissions by over 20 percent – well in excess of the 5 percent target they agreed to achieve.

“The significant point about the above is that international co-operative action can achieve a lot in the global effort to create a better world. The climate change agreement in Paris is expected to be “the next key chapter in humanity’s quest to chart a defining path to keep the world and its people under a 2 degree C temperature rise.”

The Executive Secretary of UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres, in a statement said: “The Kyoto Protocol was a remarkable achievement in many ways. It not only underscored the scientific reality that greenhouse gas emissions need to fall but it also put in place pioneering concepts, flexible options, practical solutions and procedures for accountability that we often take for granted today”.

The Kyoto Protocol helps to spawn new and innovative initiative like supporting developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. It helps to provide a foundation and the lesson to all of us is that there is always a first step. Today, the world must take a further step and far reaching action towards a truly sustainable future for over nine billion people. We need to realise that, in spite of all efforts, greenhouse gases continue to rise, threatening sustainable development and if care is not taken it will put billions of people at risk over the next couple of years.

COP 21 will open a new chapter in the management of the global climatic issues. It is expected that it will lead to a paradigm shift that will reflect today’s reality as contained in the lPCC report focussing on the global gas emissions, decarbonisation of the global economy and achieving climate neutrality.

The challenge to us in developing countries and especially Nigeria is to work together – government, private sector, civil society and people to address the challenges and opportunities of this global phenomenon. The world is facing serious oil crisis and Nigeria is passing through a period where there is dwindling revenue from oil which is the mainstay of our economy and major revenue generator. There is the need for diversification and we must do something towards the road to a low carbon society and turning the challenges to opportunities. The world is moving and despite our challenges we must do something now as we need to retool our industrial machineries.

Paris is beckoning to us. It may not be the solution immediately to climate change but it is a strong pointer towards the world with less fossil fuel and restoring natural balance of emissions on planet earth. Climate change is with us, we are as vulnerable as most other countries. It impacts our goals, aspirations and sustainable livelihood.

COP 21 is important to humanity. We must key into the process and see how we can benefit from technology, finance, capacity building, green economy, green jobs, green banking and all the attendant issues in the negotiation tables.

We need to invest in knowledge, time, people and above all have an understanding of what goes on outside the main areas of negotiation – “in the corridors and beyond.”

I have been asked, Why is COP 21 in Paris so important? l have also taken time to consult widely on this  and l can only summarise by saying that Paris is expected to secure  a deal that will see all nations come forward with self-determined plans for emissions-cutting contributions and reiterate support for poor countries in addressing the challenges of climate change.

I believe that we need to engage our people at all levels, governments alone cannot do it but they need to create the enabling environment. We appeal to our private sector to buy into this process and commit part of their contributions on corporate social responsibilities to education, awareness creation and citizens’ engagement. There are huge potentials that we can get by moving along without getting blown off with the wind and a clearer understanding and involvement will go a long way in achieving positive results.

By Prince Lekan Fadina (Executive Director, Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management and Environment (CISME). (He is a member of the Nigeria Negotiation Team, Africa Group of Negotiators and member, AGN Finance Co-ordination Committee). Website: www.cismenigeria.com. Email: cismevision@gmail.com

Panda population records 17% increase

Michael Simire
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Panda population records 17% increase

China now reports 1,864 wild pandas – a major rise in just a decade

Panda. Photo credit: brafton.com
Panda. Photo credit: brafton.com

It’s good news for panda, the furry black and white bear that has come to symbolise wildlife conservation. China announced the results of its Fourth National Giant Panda Survey, which WWF supported with financial and technical expertise.

The numbers: 1,864 estimated minimum population of wild pandas; 16.8% increase in wild panda numbers over the past decade; and, 11.8% increase of giant panda geographic range since 2003.

“The rise in the population of wild giant pandas is a victory for conservation and definitely one to celebrate,” said Ginette Hemley, Senior Vice President of Wildlife Conservation at WWF. “This is a testament to the commitment made by the Chinese government for the last 30-plus years to wild panda conservation. WWF is grateful to have had the opportunity to partner with the Chinese government to contribute to panda conservation efforts.”

Wild giant pandas, a global symbol of wildlife conservation, are found only in China’s Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. There are currently 67 panda nature reserves in China, an increase of 27 since the last survey. The survey found that 1,246 wild giant pandas live within nature reserves. The approximately 33.2% that live outside protected areas face higher risks to their survival as major infrastructure projects cause large-scale habitat loss.

 

Saving wild pandas 

Giant panda conservation efforts benefit many other rare species of animals and plants in the southwest China biodiversity hotspot. The giant panda’s habitat is also home to species such as the takin, golden snub-nosed monkey, red panda and serow. Forests within the giant panda’s habitat feature major freshwater conservation areas that benefit millions of people.

WWF’s 2015-2025 giant panda conservation strategy sets the course for panda protection efforts over the next decade and will focus on improving panda habitat in a manner that balances conservation with local sustainable development.

According to the WWF, the panda logo is symbolic of its longstanding commitment to conserving pandas in the wild. “We have a 30-year history in China and a strong presence in critical giant panda areas,” disclosed the conservation group.

Denmark gets low-priced offshore wind turbines scheme

Michael Simire
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Denmark gets low-priced offshore wind turbines scheme

With a price of 10.31 Eurocent per kWh, the new offshore wind farm, Horns Rev 3, will provide power much cheaper than other recently established offshore wind farms in Denmark and abroad

Offshore wind turbines. Photo credit: offshorewind.biz
Offshore wind turbines. Photo credit: offshorewind.biz

The winning tender for the wind farm Horns Rev 3 came from Vattenfall Vindkraft A/S who have agreed a price of 10.31 Eurocent per kWh. In comparison with previous price assumptions, this means that Danish consumers will experience a saving of approximately 295 million Euros over the next 11-12 years, which is the period during which the offshore wind farm will be in receipt of subsidies. Thereafter, the Horns Rev 3 facility will produce electricity at the market price and will no longer receive any form of subsidy.

The winning bid is well below the 14.07 Eurocent (15.15 Eurocent in fixed 2015-prices) which is the price being charged by Anholt Offshore Wind Farm. Horns Rev 3 is thus 32 percent cheaper than the last time Denmark built an offshore wind farm. It is believed to be the cheapest offshore wind park in Europe at the moment.

Compared to other wind farms abroad, this appears to represent a rather low price. Though a direct comparison is not possible, in the UK – the largest market for wind turbines – the cheapest parks currently being built cost 15.33 Eurocent / kWh in 2015. In addition to this the subsidies are adjusted for inflation and, in contrast to Denmark, the subsidy period is 15 years instead if the 11-12 years afforded in Denmark.

”With Horns Rev 3 Denmark is making windmill history through realising a significant reduction in the cost of establishing offshore wind farms. There is no doubt that the power from offshore wind turbines will continue to be an essential part of the green transition and contribute effectively to reducing CO2 in the atmosphere,” says Minister for Climate, Energy and Building Rasmus Helveg Petersen.

The low price is due in large part to technological developments throughout the wind turbine industry combined with a very successful tendering process. Through extensive dialogue and subsequent negotiations with the bidders, the DEA have managed to lower the price considerably. At the same time, a good, competitive environment was fostered around the windmill tendering process in which four companies were pre-qualified to participate.

“The low price is not just good for Denmark, but also for the international green transition. The general decline in prices in the market for wind power means that offshore wind power is now well on its way to becoming a viable competitive alternative to traditional fossil fuels. At the same time, we have developed an efficient procurement model which the whole of Europe can take inspiration from,” says Petersen.

The successful bid has already been approved by the signatories of the Energy Agreement 2012 and must now be adopted by parliament and signed into law. The government will present the bill on March 18 and the proposal is expected to be adopted during April with the backing of a large political majority in parliament.

Facts about Horns Rev 3:

  • The winner of the tendering process is Vattenfall Vindkraft A/S.
  • The agreed price is 10.31 Eurocent per. kWh.
  • The construction of Horns Rev 3 is to commence as soon as possible and the park is to be completed by 1 January 2020.
  • The first turbines will be able to be connected to the grid from January 1 2017 when they will be functional and ready to supply power to the grid.
  • There were four companies pre-qualified to participate in the tender.
  • Horns Rev 3 will result in the creation of up to 7,000 jobs over a three year period starting in 2016.
  • Electricity production from the park will be enough to supply the needs of 450,000 households.
  • Establishing this facility will increase the wind-sector’s share of electricity consumption in 2020 by 4.8% points from 46.2% to 51.0%.
  • CO2 emissions will be reduced by 1.16 million tons.

Switzerland becomes first nation to submit climate action plan

Michael Simire
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Switzerland becomes first nation to submit climate action plan

Switzerland on Friday became the first Party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to submit its new climate action plan.

Aerial view of Bern, the Swiss federal capital city. Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org
Aerial view of Bern, the Swiss federal capital city. Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

Switzerland’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes well in advance of a new universal climate agreement to be inked by governments at the UN climate conference in Paris in December.

The new agreement will come into effect in 2020 and will pave the way to keep a global temperature rise this century under 2 degrees C.

Governments have agreed to submit their INDCs in advance of Paris with many developed and bigger developing countries expected to do so in the first quarter of this year.

The news from Switzerland comes in the wake of a meeting in Geneva where countries also finalized the negotiating text for the Paris agreement. The next round of formal negotiations will take place at UNFCCC headquarters in Bonn, Germany in June.

INDCs have been chosen as the vehicle for national contributions to the international Paris agreement–they include for example details of emission reductions the country will undertake and can include other action plans covering for example adaptation.

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said: “Switzerland is today demonstrating leadership, commitment and its support towards a successful outcome in Paris in 10 months’ time – it is the first but will not be the last. Momentum towards Paris is building everywhere. I look forward to many more INDCs being submitted over the coming weeks and months.”

Countries have agreed that there will be no back-tracking in their contributions. This means that the level of ambition to reduce emissions will increase over time. The negotiating text from Geneva also signals the ambition among many governments for a long-term goal to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the century.

According to the UNFCCC, the INDC of Switzerland, along with additional information such as documentation on designing and preparing INDCs as well as on sources of support for INDC preparation, will be available here: http://unfccc.int/focus/indc_portal/items/8766.php

Switzerland targets 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

Michael Simire
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Switzerland targets 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

Switzerland aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% relative to 1990 levels by 2030. At least 30% of this reduction must be achieved within Switzerland itself. The rest may be attained through projects carried out abroad. These objectives were approved by the Federal Council in November 2014 as part of the definition of the negotiation mandate for the climate conference in Lima and were made public on Friday. Switzerland will announce its commitment to reduce emissions by 50% to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Climate change is impacting Switzerland. Photo credit: startribune.com
Climate change is impacting Switzerland. Photo credit: startribune.com

A new international climate agreement which will involve all States from 2020 is due to be concluded at the climate conference to be held in Paris in December 2015. All Member States of the UNFCCC are required to state their commitments for the post-2020 period in advance of the Paris summit.

This objective of a 50% reduction in emissions reflects Switzerland’s responsibility for climate warming and the potential cost of emissions reduction measures in Switzerland and abroad over the 2020-2030 period. Switzerland, which is responsible for 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions and, based on the structure of its economy, has a low level of emissions (6.4 tonnes per capita per year), should be able to avail of emissions reduction measures abroad to reduce the cost of emissions reduction measures during the period 2020-2030. The fulfilment of part of the targeted reduction abroad will also enable the spreading of domestic measures over a longer period to account for capacities within the economy.

Switzerland’s target for 2020-2030 is also compatible with the pathway defined by climate experts to keep climate warming below two degrees between now and the end of the century.

At national level, a draft revision of the CO2 Act will be submitted for consultation in mid-2016.

 

Greater commitment for the climate

In line with the measures already implemented at national level, Switzerland emits less greenhouse gases today than in 1990 despite the fact that gross national product increased by 36% over the intervening period. Switzerland fulfilled its emissions reduction target for the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol (2008-2012).

This commitment has been increased for the period 2013-2020. The CO2 Act prescribes a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 20% by 2020 to be achieved through domestic measures. The instruments established to fulfil this target include the CO2 tax on heating fuel, the reduction in CO2 emissions from new cars, the obligation for fuel importers to compensate for some of the CO2 emitted by transport and the Buildings Programme.

 

A clear, transparent and understandable commitment

According to the decisions adopted by the climate conference in Lima, the commitment to be announced by the States for the post-2020 period must be clear, transparent and understandable. Switzerland has provided information under each of the seven key points identified in Lima which ensure the clarity of its commitment:

Reference point for the calculation of emissions reductions: 1990

Period for implementation: up to 2030

Scope of the commitment: sectors covered are energy, industrial processes and product use, agriculture, land-use, land-use change and forestry, waste; the reductions cover seven greenhouse gases: CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), PFCs (perfluorocarbons), SF6 (sulphur hexafluoride), NF3 (nitrogen trifluoride), that is the gases already covered by the current legislation.

Processes: a draft revision of the CO2 Act will be submitted for consultation in mid-2016; the proposed measures will mainly aim to reinforce existing measures.

Assumption and methodology: Switzerland’s commitment is based on the existence of emissions certificates which meet high quality criteria and are sufficient in quantity. The effect of forests will be taken into account. The methodology for non-forest land remains to be developed.

Adequacy of the commitment

Three criteria are taken into account:

  1. Historical and current responsibility for climate change: Switzerland is responsible for 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions today. Its level of responsibility is low.
  2. Capacity to contribute to solving the climate problem: thanks inter alia to its high per capita GNP, Switzerland’s capacity to contribute to solving the climate problem is high.
  3. Cost-effectiveness of emissions reduction measures: due to its mainly carbon-free energy production and lack of heavy industry, the cost of reduction measures in Switzerland is high in the short term.

Contribution to the objective of the Convention (increase in temperature of less than two degrees): the reduction target of -50% relative to 1990 levels is compatible with the recommendations of the IPCC of -40 to -70% below 2010 levels by 2050.

 

Objective in the context of the two degree pathway

According to the objectives defined by the Federal Council for 2030 and 2050, i.e. -50% relative to 1990 and -70 to -85% by 2050, per capita annual emissions must reach 3 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year in 2030, and between 1 and 2 tonnes of CO2 by 2050. Hence Switzerland’s targets lie within the ambitious average of the climate experts’ (IPPC) recommendations for 2050. This emissions development is also in line with the Federal Council’s long-term objective of reducing per capita emissions to one or one-and-a-half tonnes.

UN publishes climate agreement negotiating text

Michael Simire
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UN publishes climate agreement negotiating text

Another key step towards a new, universal climate change agreement appears to have been taken following the official issuance on Thursday of negotiating text for the agreement by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC
Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC

The text was agreed at the UN Climate Change Conference in Geneva earlier this month, and covers the substantive content of the new agreement including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology, capacity building, and transparency of action and support.  See the negotiating text here: http://unfccc.int/documentation/documents/advanced_search/items/6911.php?priref=600008407

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said: “I’m delighted that the negotiating text from which the Paris agreement will be constructed has now been officially published. This will allow early consideration of the text on the part of governments.”

The negotiating text will be formally communicated to all governments that are Party to the Convention as soon as it becomes available in all six official languages of the UN. The expectation is that this could be achieved by the end of March, thus amply fulfilling procedural requirements for adoption of the agreement at the end of the year.

This milestone kick-starts a year of intense negotiations and political efforts focused on completing the new agreement and building broad-based momentum across all levels for a unified and lasting response to the challenge of climate change.

“I welcome the broad-based engagement of Heads of State and Ministers ranging from finance to health to energy. The new agreement will not only be of relevance to Ministers of environment, but will be of key relevance across all government ministries and departments committed to the triple intertwined agendas of 2015: namely climate action, the realisation of a suite of Sustainable Development Goals and progressing on disaster risk reduction,” Ms. Figueres stated.

Negotiators will reconvene at the Climate Change Conference in Bonn from 1 to 11 June to seek convergence, find ways to bridge positions and reach common understandings.

“The June session will be of crucial importance,” Ms. Figueres said. “I would like to call on all governments to empower their negotiators to come prepared to make choices in June and to converge on outcomes all Parties can accept,” she added.

Additionally, negotiators will identify elements within the negotiating text that are of a durable nature and therefore need to be enshrined in the agreement, and aspects that are more suitable to be contained in decisions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. This could mean, for example, that the establishment of a mechanism that boosts the response to climate change would be enshrined in the agreement, but the details of how this mechanism would operate would be captured in an accompanying decision.

Following the June conference, two further formal sessions have been scheduled in Bonn, from 31 August to 4 September and from 19 to 23 October.

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