Interesting Fossil Developments

Fossil of the Day traditionally goes to developed countries – those that have the most to lose economically. Today’s Fossil was a surprise given that it went to five countries that are part of the relatively new ‘Like Minded Developed Countries’ (LMDC) bloc: China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Despite not being the only LMDC countries to object in last nights informal negotiations, they were singled out for wanting to eliminate the sole reference to ‘equity’ in the draft ADP text.

Debates around equity is based on whether all countries will have commitments in the new agreement. Not only on mitigation, but also on adaptation, finance, capacity and technology. Climate Action Network International, who chooses who the Fossil is awarded to, believe that instead of elimination, countries should have just added more details to the text.

The LMDC group are opposed to this new, and vague, definition of equity because it could be read as an overriding the differentiation between Annex I and non-Annex I countries. Yet, equity is also a key issue for many developing countries with a need to develop economies to lift people out of poverty. The outcome is unlikely to satisfy anyone, and this could derail the road to 2015.

Second place went to Australia for pushing last night’s negotiations to 4am. They were accused of being disrespectful with their t-shirt wearing to the “gorging” of food and inappropriate giggling. Procedurally, they also overzealously bracketed text leading to an unproductive night that concluded in the G77 and China walking out.

By Andrés Fuentes and Cécile Schneider, photo by Holly Jones.