After agreeing to forward text for key decisions to the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-7) to the UN Frame-work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to be held in October, COP-6 Part II came to a close in Bonn on July 27. Although the negotiators reached a broad political agreement on the operational rulebook for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, key decisions such as those on the protocol's "flexibility mechanisms," land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) and compliance systems were not finalized by the end of the meeting.
Threatened with an embarrassing collapse of the entire treaty, the European ministers made concessions to Japan on the rules concerning LULUCF and the compliance regime. Japan received extra credits toward its emission goals for protecting its forests. Other countries will also benefit from this compromise.
The agreement reached in Bonn makes it possible for the protocol to enter into force by the time the World Summit on Sustainable Development convenes in Johannesburg next year. It remains to be seen, however, how effective this pact will be without the participation of the US. The Kyoto Protocol requires the 38 industrialized nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during the five year period from 2008 to 2012. But now, under the revised agreement, the average reduction percentage could drop to a mere 1.8 percent.
There is another problem
concerning funding. While the EU, Canada, Iceland, Norway, New Zealand and Switzerland pledged to provide an annual contribution of US$410 million by 2005 to help developing countries adapt to climate change and develop the technological capacity to avoid adding to the problem, more money is needed.
Originally, the US was committed to contributing one third of the climate change funding under the Kyoto Protocol. But now, the US has made it clear it will not contribute.
The delegates seemed happy about the outcome of the meeting. Not only did they save the protocol; they also kept the global climate change negotiation process alive. The US was totally isolated in Bonn. But, there is no sign of a change in US policy on the Kyoto Protocol. It is likely that the US will submit its alternative proposal at COP-7. In the meantime, efforts are expected by key members to persuade the US to recommit itself to the protocol.
Environmental officials in Taiwan support the country's early participation in the Kyoto Protocol. Unfortunately, the issue of Taiwan's participation in the fight against global warming was not addressed at all in Bonn, though the nation is one of the major carbon dioxide emitters.
Japan's environment minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said in Bonn that "in order to achieve the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol, we need to have the widest possible participation of countries." While his statement was a clear reference to the US, the international community should also seriously consider the role Taiwan can play and the contribution it can make in the fight against global warming.
How can Taiwan get involved in the global climate change negotiation process? Consider the following "flexible" approach.
Taiwan should be invited to participate in the international climate change negotiations and suitable dialogue and implementation mechanisms to be established in the future by applying the concept of "emission entity." Taiwan currently participates in a number of international governmental organizations with the status of "economic entity," "customs territory" and "fishing entity," and under the name "Chinese Taipei." This flexible approach bypasses the problem of Taiwan's sovereignty. It is according to precisely this formula that Taiwan currently participates in APEC and, very soon, will join the WTO.
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