If the climate change summit in Copenhagen was characterized by over optimism followed by bitter disappointment the Cancun summit looks set to be characterized by a cart load of over pessimism. In the face of this apathy you’ve got to admire the attempts by Mexico to ‘rescue’ the climate change negotiations ahead of this year’s summit.
Currently Mexico is jetting their diplomats off around the world in an effort to remind the key players that while an agreement for a binding treaty may not be on the cards, small achievements can still be made.
Small achievements such as the REDD plus forestry agreement scheme, which diplomats have been quietly working on, have high hopes that a workable deal to finance forest protection will be in place by the end of this year.
In addition the fast track climate financing promised at the Copenhagen Summit amounting to $30 billion has not been fully forthcoming. However there are high expectations that more funding will be announced at Cancun. There is also hope that the working group looking at long term financing options will put forward a range of workable if controversial ideas for how the international community could raise $100 billion each year to combat climate change.
Baring all incidents, this approach could actually lead to some progress by focusing on what might be achieved rather than obsessing on the long standing deadlocks, which have derailed the momentum of the negotiations.
However, unless the negotiators deliver a marked improvement in relations between industrialized, emerging and developing countries even this modest outcome could go up in flames. While Mexico’s negotiating team has made good progress on encouraging a deal, when it comes to persuading the loosely structured and mutually suspicious nations that make up the negotiations to agree… well it is easier said than done.
In conclusion Mexican diplomats are to be commended for promoting the prospects of the Cancun Summit and right to promise that each voice at the table will be heard. Despite this they still face a steep uphill battle if they are to save the talks from collapse.
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