107
3.2. The Role of International Institutions and Conventions on Climate Change
108
change, both at international and national levels, and with a purpose to facilitate adaptation as well as mitigation which are both connected to the Kyoto protocol where duties of all the states are listed.
The Kyoto protocol was initiated at the third Conference of Parties (COP3) in 1997. It was essentially the first step to lay a ground on what needed to be done to tackle climate change. Firstly, it attempted to reinforce a commitment by rich developed and industrial countries on an aggregated emission reduction target of 5% by 2008-2012 and which was sought to be the first commitment period (UNFCCC, 2007). Again the protocol advanced for flexibility systems in which these rich countries could cooperate with others, particularly developing countries on how to achieve climate change targets using the clean development mechanism (CDM). However, many critics argued that because of its less strict and non-binding agreement, Kyoto protocol became inadequate (Aerts, et al., 2004). For example one of the world largest emitter of climate change induced greenhouse gases the United State of America was not on board when the protocol was formulated. Furthermore, developing countries were excluded in any of the commitment of the future emissions because of the recognised urgent need for economic growth and development in these countries.
The establishment of the UNFCCC by the United Nations again provided a basis for concerted international action to mitigate climate change and to adapt to its impacts. Its provisions are found to be far-sighted, innovative and firmly embedded in the concept of
109
sustainable development (UNFCCC, 2006). In 1994 after its inception the UNFCCC constituted 191 member states which became committed to launch national strategies for adapting to expected impacts, including the provision of financial and technological support to developing countries, and to cooperate in preparing for adaptation to the impacts of climate change. All Parties to the UNFCCC were also found to be committed to submitting national communications in which they outlined the implementation of the conversion and the impacts from climate change that they were facing. The communication channels among the member states were designed to allow countries to provide information on assessments of vulnerabilities and adaptation options. Although knowledge of how best to do adaptation was still in its infancy, the Parties of the UNFCCC increased their support for action on adaptation (Aerts, et al., 2004; UNFCCC, 2006). This includes the development of national adaptation programs by some developing countries including least developed countries, and their integration into national strategies. Water resources, agriculture and food security, human health, terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity, and coastal zones were found to be the common sectors for which impacts and vulnerability assessment have been carried out by these countries. Additionally it projected investment flows and financing relevant to the development of an effective and appropriate international response to climate change and estimated that by 2030 developing countries will require an estimated amount of US$ 28-67 billion in funds to enable adaptation to climate change (UNFCCC, 2006). The UNFCCC also publishes variety of articles on issues of climate change, its dangers and the need to commit towards its elimination. The most cited one is the article 2 of the UNFCCC which highlights the key risks and potentially severe impacts of
110
climate change emanating from dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. Furthermore article 2 emphasises, propose and reinforce the conversion ultimate objective which is the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system (UNFCCC, 2006). Article 2 states that such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner, thus recognizing the importance of the nexus between sustainable (economic) development and climate protection (UNFCCC, 2006).
The relationship between sustainable development and climate protection has been more emphasised at the UNFCCC workshops organised in different regions of the international community. For instance, at the Africa’s workshop, participant emphasised and agreed that systematic observation networks in their region are inadequate because there is a lack of stations and lack of maintenance (UNFCCC, 2007). The important information for measuring the impact and adaptation opportunities to climate change are lacking in this side of the planet. In other words missing and scattered observational climate data in Africa is a big constraint to understanding current and future climate variability, and such a missing link is said to be toxic on the quest towards achieving sustainable and economic development (Leggett, 2009; UNFCCC, 2007;
Urquhart, 2014). In this regard, the participants at the workshop underlined the crucial need to implement the climate information for development needs action plan for Africa aimed at improving the inadequate and deteriorating observing systems through an
111
integrated program that includes not only observations, but also climate services and climate risk management and policy (UNFCCC, 2006; UNFCCC, 2007). At the workshop in Asia participants highlighted a wider scale need of improvement of observation and data availability which include in islands, mountainous, and coastal ecosystems, at the national, regional and global levels (UNFCCC, 2007). Also efforts regarding the harmonization and consistency of data which need to be enhanced through improved coordination between data providers from different sectors were emphasised. For example at the workshop, China reported an improvement it is making to its systematic observation network under the framework of the China Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) program (UNFCCC, 2006; UNFCCC, 2007). The country uses the system to monitor atmospheric composition, energy balance, water and carbon cycles, ecosystems, land use, ice and snow, and regularly submits real-time observation data its national stations to the World Data Centre for Meteorology (UNFCCC, 2006; UNFCCC, 2007). Furthermore, China has an operational system of short-term climatic monitoring, prediction and assessment, established in the Beijing Climate Centre, and has some regional cooperative climate programs with other Asian developing countries such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan (UNFCCC, 2007). In Latin America UNFCCC workshop, participants reported that climate information is either unavailable or sparse, and it is difficult to use it for modelling and scenario development (UNFCCC, 2007). One of the main challenges emphasised which is leading to a large gap in observational coverage is the fact that network of national correspondents works only on a voluntary basis (UNFCCC, 2006). It was reported that the websites of national meteorological services, in general,
112
do not make datasets available to allow studies of detection and attribution of climate change and there are just a few countries in Latin America which, at present, have active climate change programs (UNFCCC, 2006; UNFCCC, 2007). In Small Island developing state climate observations is a responsibility of the national meteorological and hydrological services. Furthermore the Pacific Islands Global Climate Observing System has been at work addressing capacity-building needs, improving observing stations, climate prediction, telecommunication and data rescue (UNFCCC, 2007). For example, Regional Action Plan for Central America and the Caribbean is partly being implemented through the Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change project (UNFCCC, 2007). This process includes upgrades of observation networks, data rescue, and assessment of surface and groundwater monitoring networks (UNFCCC, 2006). The overall progress and reportage at the workshops as underlined by the UNFCCC is that there is a dire need for vulnerability and adaptation assessments in order for countries to evaluate and implement proper responses to climate change (UNFCCC, 2006). As it was clearly stipulated, a major problem in all regions was the limited capacity at regional and national level due to deficiencies in data collection and the lack of technical expertise. It was highlighted as important to make the models, tools and methodologies that are appropriate for assessments available particularly in developing countries where the impacts of climate change are found to be more devastating (UNFCCC, 2007). However, with limited access to technology, skills and resources to develop the socio-economic conditions of the poor in these countries, the ability to minimise the effects of climate change is still a huge challenge (UNFCCC, 2006).
113