Philippines supports ‘weak’ Copenhagen pact

COPENHAGEN - The Philippines has thrown its support behind the Copenhagen accord, a non-binding climate agreement criticized for its weak provisions and the non-transparent, non-inclusive process by which it was formulated. Brokered by the United States – the world’s largest polluter until overtaken by China two years ago – the informal accord called for countries to work at keeping the global temperature rise to below two degrees. The accord was also criticized for “lacking ambition in reducing carbon emissions." If world temperatures grow warmer by more than two degrees, polar ice caps would melt, bringing a global sea level rise of more than six meters. As a result, rising sea levels may submerge parts of Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and other countries. The informal and non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which did not go through the normal negotiating procedures of the United Nations-sponsored conference, came out of a meeting that was attended by Ethiopia, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa. The pact called for financing of $30 billion to be provided by rich countries for the most vulnerable nations between 2010 and 2012, with $100 billion dollars “from a wide variety of sources" to be secured by 2020. [See: Philippines most in danger from climate change ] During the emotionally-charged plenary session on Friday night after US President Barack Obama announced the Copenhagen Accord, the Philippines' Heherson Alvarez announced that the country would support the accord. Alvarez serves as Vice Chairman of the newly created Climate Change Commission and acting head of the Philippine delegation to the climate talks. “We support the adoption of the Copenhagen Accord," Alvarez said. “We welcome the efforts made by the group of leaders who negotiated it in the spirit of exploring collective actions. However, we need to constantly and consistently stress the critical importance of transparency, broader consultation, and consensus in these international negotiations." However, poor nations, including Sudan, Tuvalu, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela and Cuba, did not share Alvarez's sentiments. Ambassador Lumumba di Aping from Sudan called the document ‘murderous’ since a two degree rise in temperature spells climate disaster for the African continent. He said that the document is “the single most disturbing document" in the history of the climate talks and asked it be stricken from United Nations’ records. Veteran negotiator Bernaditas Castro-Muller, the fierce Filipino spokeswoman for the largest bloc of 132 developing nations in the climate talks, also called the climate deal damaging to the interests of developing countries. [See: Climate change deal damaging to poor nations, Filipina expert says] Muller was removed from the Philippine delegation to the climate talks by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the eve of the opening of the Copenhagen summit. [See: Sudan adopts key negotiator excluded by RP in climate talks] The move raised suspicions among civil society groups that Mrs. Arroyo was softening her position on climate change to please the United States. Muller was later "adopted" by Sudan to enable her to continue negotiating for developing nations. In the meantime, after endorsing the accord, Alvarez also said that work must be done to improve the document. He encouraged scaling up the carbon reduction targets to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees rather than two degrees. Alvarez also stressed the importance of reaching a legally-binding agreement within six months or the latest by the next UN climate summit to be held in Mexico City next year. “Let us have a common resolve not to repeat what happened in our processes where for years, we exchanged positions and waited until the last two weeks, indeed the last few days, to begin serious negotiations," he said. - RJAB, Jr./GMANews.TV