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Need for review of offsetting mechanisms

— AFP

MAKING WAVES: Japanese eco-conscious adventurer Kenichi Horie on his wave- powered boat “Mermaid II” — a 9.5-metre catamaran made of recycled aluminium from beer cans — in Fukuyama, Japan.

Bali: With less than a month to go for the clauses of the Kyoto Protocol to come into effect, the fact that 16 out of the 36 countries that took on binding emission-reductions are unlikely to meet their targets has brought the issue of “offsetting emissions” back into focus at the UNFCCC Conference on Climate Change. The failure of richer nations to make deeper emission cuts — emissions have actually risen in six European countries in 2005 — has prompted some to ask for a limit to carbon offsetting and a review of the CDM.

While the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol envisage a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on the part of the richer annex 1 countries, it offers them the option of emissions trading with lesser-polluting developing countries. Another mechanism – termed the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – allows richer countries to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits generated by emission reduction projects in developing nations. The CDM is also supposed to help developing countries deal with climate change mitigation and adaptation through technology transfer and the Adaptation

Fund respectively. The resources of the Adaptation Fund are provided by a two per cent cess on CDM transactions. However, neither the Fund nor technology transfer has materialised.

Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Yvo de Boer, articulated as much in his opening press conference on December 2, where he admitted that the big agenda in Bali was the initiation and facilitation of technology transfer and the Adaptation Fund.

The CDM has also come under criticism from several African countries as the mechanism awards credits for offsetting emissions through efficiency projects and emission reductions, thereby discriminating against countries with low industrial and emission bases to start with. What parts of Africa and South America do have are forests – but forests are not covered under the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. However, Mr. de Boer has urged delegates at the Bali Conference to work towards building a possible consensus on incorporating Reduced Emissions by Deforestation (and Degradation) in Developing countries (REDD) to help developing preserve forests.

Emissions from deforestation in the Global South are estimated to contribute about 20 per cent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. However, the deforestation issue is likely to be extremely contentious with some groups and countries asking for a purely commodity driven approach to preserving the world’s forests, while others fear for the rights of those dependent on the forests for their livelihoods.

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