Jordan supports Arab stance at Bonn climate conference

BONN — Ongoing global negotiations at the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) in Bonn are “so far positive” and in favour of the demands of the Arab countries, according to a senior Arab diplomat.

Twenty-two Arab countries have announced a unified stance at the COP 23, describing the Paris Agreement as their foundation in the current negotiations and reaffirming the importance of sustaining and preserving the agreement’s elements.

At the COP 23, Arab countries are negotiating a “full and integrated package on financing, implementation of adaptation projects and transparency”, the diplomat, who requested to remain anonymous, said.

“We are demanding guidelines that cover all the elements of the Paris Agreement, including finance, implementation mechanisms, and provision of support as well as ensuring the transparency of all measures,” the diplomat, who is directly involved in the negotiations on behalf of the Arab countries, told The Jordan Times in an interview.

The Arab countries, which have been holding daily meetings throughout the conference, strongly underlined the need to link mitigation measures to financial support, demanding that the national differences for each Arab country be recognised when drafting out mitigation activities.

“So far, we are on the right track and progressing at the negotiations,” the Arab diplomat highlighted. He however noted that the path of the ongoing negotiations is not clear yet, as the first week of the conference concludes.

Diplomats, scientists and environmentalists from 195 countries on Monday started negotiations at the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to draft out operating guidelines for the Paris agreement.

The guidelines will detail how nations can reach and achieve goals announced at the Paris Agreement, which sets a target of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC — or 2ºC at the most— by the end of the century.

Ministry of Environment Secretary General Ahmad Qatarneh underlined that Jordan supports the Arab stance at COP 23, expressing hope that the conference concludes with clear guidelines on finance of adaptation and mitigation.

“We are in line with the collectively adopted Arab stance and we are negotiating our way to reach an integrated package by the year 2018, when the COP 24 will be held in Poland,” Qatarneh told The Jordan Times in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.

Delegates of the participating countries will be negotiating specific goals at COP 23, which is presided by Fiji, the first island nation to head a COP conference.

The delegates are expected to complete the structure for the implementation of the Paris Agreement to strengthen its impact and achieve its goals in order for countries that ratified the agreement to fulfil the commitments due in 2020 along with finance and mitigation pledges.

In addition to setting up guidelines that ensure that the agreement promotes transparency on action and support as well as resilience and adaptation, delegates at COP 23 will also be checking on the progress of the delivery of $100 billion of support for developing countries by 2020, and the bringing into force of the Doha Amendment of the first international emission reduction treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, according to the UNFCCC.

They also aim at drawing up international standards on how to measure carbon emissions in addition to how countries set new and more ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions post 2020.