Nations urged to think beyond borders

Some also worry aid focuses on curbing emissions, not helping poor

Green concessions were urged amid calls to sideline narrow interests for humanity's sake, as negotiators from more than 180 countries gathered at the resort city of Cancun on the Caribbean coast to discuss ways to combat climate change.

Activists on Monday hold signs urging a vegetarian diet to help reduce global methane emissions, in the Mexican resort of Cancun where a two-week UN climate change conference is being held.[Photo/Agencies]?

The Cancun conference is the first full UN meeting since the Copenhagen summit a year ago, which brought 120 world leaders to the Danish capital in an abortive attempt to agree to a binding treaty governing man-made emissions.

The president of Mexico, the host country, called on nations to think beyond their borders and consider all humanity.

"The atmosphere is indifferent to the sovereignty of states," President Felipe Calderon said in his keynote speech opening the conference.

"It would be a tragedy if our inability to see beyond our personal interests, our group or national interests makes us fail," Calderon said in the speech to 15,000 delegates, business leaders, activists and journalists.

Industrial and developing countries are divided about their responsibilities in fighting climate change and accepting legal limits on emissions.

But there are signs of progress, according to the UN's climate chief.

Delegates in Cancun are addressing how to raise and disperse the $30-billion (23 billion euros) "fast-track fund" to help less well-off nations fight global warming that was agreed in Copenhagen. A growing convergence has also emerged to agree on a balanced package of decisions, said Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Developed countries have pledged to put on the table a total of $28 billion to help poor countries adapt to global warming.

The European Union, Japan and the US said they have channeled a total of $9.9 billion in climate aid to developing countries this year.

However, a large part of the fund was paid in the form of loans instead of grants, a move that environmentalists worry may further indebt the poor countries.

Stanley So, manager of economic justice campaign at Oxfam Hong Kong, also worried that the aid focuses more on curbing greenhouse-gas emissions than on helping poor countries deal with the effects of climate change.

Cancun also hopes to agree on measures to protect tropical forests and transfer green technology to developing nations.

While an overarching deal to slash greenhouse gas emissions looks out of reach this year, commitments regarding technology transfer and transparency could help restore confidence and pave the way for a legally binding deal next year, said Chao Qingchen, a member of the Chinese delegation.

Political tensions are still high between rich and poor countries on issues such as whether the Kyoto Protocol should continue after it expires in 2012, Figueres said.

The protocol is the only existing mechanism that sets legally binding targets for industrialized countries to cut their carbon emissions.

Developing countries request an amendment that establishes a second commitment period. Pablo Solon, Bolivian ambassador to the UN, said developed countries must reduce their emissions from 2012 to 2017 to stop global warming.

However, Japan has bluntly announced it would not sign up to a second commitment period of the protocol, because the United States, which did not ratify the protocol, is exempted from such compliance.

"It's now up to the Japanese government to make a decision, because the European Union has sent out a clear signal that it is willing to move forward with the Kyoto Protocol," said Tove Ryding, a climate policy adviser with Greenpeace International.

"Countries should stick by the rules we already have, and improve them. The way forward is not to abandon the system that took 10 years to develop and get back to zero," Ryding said.

Formalizing proposals countries made in Copenhagen is another thorny issue.

"Compromise is an act of wisdom that can unite different positions in creative ways," Figueres told negotiators at the opening ceremony.

Rich countries have been pressing China and other emerging economies for more transparency on domestic efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

The US has insisted that it will not move forward on providing climate financing for the poor unless China monitors, verifies and reports domestic mitigation efforts in the same manner as other industrialized countries.

"For China, there needs to be much tighter rules for measurement, reporting and verification compared to a small poor country," said Artur Runge-Metzger, a senior European Union negotiator, on Nov 30 in Cancun.

But for China, transparency will not be a big problem, said Su Wei, China's top climate change negotiator.

The country has been active in introducing measures and drafting laws and is committed to concrete action on emissions, Su said. He also said China "did a lot but said little" in energy saving and the country would like to increase the transparency of its policies, actions and achievements.

China will continue its positive and constructive role in negotiations to secure a balanced and comprehensive outcome, he said.

Lan Lan and Wu Chong contributed to this story.