Developing countries to get climate change fund in 2009

By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- Developing countries like the Philippines will have to wait until 2009 to access the Adaptation Fund under the Kyoto Protocol, a climate specialist said Thursday.

World leaders agreed to operationalize the long-idle fund to help developing countries adapt to global warming at the recently concluded climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia.

Dr. Lourdes Tibig, a member of the Philippine delegation to the summit, said the Philippines could access the fund as early as 2009 once the mechanism has been established.

``The money is already there. It's just not being distributed because there's no mechanism yet,” she said in an interview.

Tibig is a supervising weather specialist at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration’s (PAGASA).

At the summit's end last Saturday, world leaders agreed to set 2009 as the deadline for a new treaty to tackle global warming, three years ahead of the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol.

An Adaptation Board, composed of representatives from developing countries, was created to draw up the mechanism on the fund allocation, while the World Bank's Global Environmental Facility was tapped to disburse it.

The fund is financed by a levy on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol. Since 1997, it has grown to $67 million and is seen as a major contributor to adaptation financing for developing countries.

The fund was designed to finance concrete adaptation programs in developing countries that are parties to the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement aimed at cutting down greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

The CDM is a mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol which helps developed countries achieve their emissions reduction targets, and developing countries attain their sustainable development goals.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Jasper Inventor, also a member of the Philippine delegation, however, said that the fund won't come "onstream" until 2012, when the Protocol expires.

``Under the framework, it's still 2012, unless we're able to negotiate a position that we should be able to access this fund after the negotiations,” he said in an interview.

Like Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, PAGASA’s Tibig and Inventor said the agreement to operationalize the fund was laudable.

``This, together with technology transfer, is a very important mechanism to help developing countries adapt to climate change,” Inventor said.

``This means further mapping, improving forecasting, disaster management and prevention -- things that will ensure that we move forward and adapt to a changing climate.”

Inventor, however, clarified that projects to be financed by the fund were not limited to CDM projects.

RP kikilos para sa climate change

TINIYAK kahapon ni Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza na itutuloy ng bansa ang mga proyekto at pangako nito na makakapagbawas ng greenhouse emission para maiwasan ang mga delubyo at kalamidad na posibleng tumama sa bansa tulad ng pagbaha, kakulangan sa tubig at pagkasira ng pananim at lamang dagat dulot ng global warming.

Sa talumpati niya sa 12-day UN Conference on Climate Change sa Bali, Indonesia kung saan pinala-kpakan siya bago at matapos niyang ihatid ang pahayag ng bansa, sinabi ni Atienza na kahit hindi masisisi ang Pilipinas sa epekto ng global warming, gagawa pa rin umano ng hakbang ang pamahalaan na makatulong dahil ang Pilipinas ay madalis maapektuhan ng matinding sama ng panahon tulad ng bagyo, baha, landslides at iba na nakakapinsala sa pamumuhay ng tao at ari-arian.

Hanggang ngayon, wala pa ring nabubuong commitment mula sa Estados Unidos ang 190 nasyon na kasama sa konperensya na bawasan ang emission level ng 25 hanggang 40 percent sa 2020. Nilala-yon ng Bali conference na magkaroon ng usapin na palitan ang Kyoto Protocol na nakatakdang mag-expire sa 2012. Ginawa ang protocol noong 1997 kung saan nire-require ang mga bansa na bawasan ang greenhouse gas emissions at ang mayayamang bansa ang magtutustos nito.

“We have accelerated our shift to renewable energy sources. We are one of thr few countries with mandatory vehicle emission testing mandated by law. We have banned open burning. We just passed the biofuels law that provided for its mandatory use and incentives,” ayon kay Atienza na kumatawan kay Pangulong Arroyo sa konperensya.

Sinabi pa niya na naroon ang malaking paghamon na pakilusin ang lahat at makiisa para sa climate change na mangyayari lamang kung meron malawakang information campaign.

“We have less thatn 10 years to effectively address climate change or it will cause irreversible ecological disasters if temperature increased by 3 to 4 degrees centigrade. Some 340 million people will be displaced and 1.8 billion people will be deprived of drinking water. Climate change will condemn our people to poverty,” ayon pa kay Atienza.