Cartagena occupies the ‘middle ground’ in negotiations

By Cherelle Jackson

 APIA – The Cartagena Dialogue, a network of countries working for a constructive solution in the negotiations on climate change occupies the middle ground in climate change negotiations.

This is according to Chair of Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG KP), Adrian Macey from New Zealand who critiqued the shortcomings in the UNFCCC process as means of finding a solution to the impact of climate change.

“I find the UNFCCC as a very very strange organisation compared to other organisations. In all other bilateral organisations I have worked with there has been middle ground, occupied by committees or others to breaker solutions when parties are locked into disagreements, but for some reason UNFCCC has great difficulty developing this.”

Macey then went on to say that the Cartagena Dialogue fills the role.

“ It’s great that you are now occupying this stage which is necessary to decision making,” he said on the first day of the meeting in Apia, Samoa.

Cartagena Dialogue in the past two days have been discussing issues relating to adaptation, climate finance and others.

The 35 countries present discussed what they would take to the upcoming COP17 in Durban at the end of the year.

Macey said “collective ambition” is necessary to achieve outcomes at the COP17.

“ There’s clearly a gap here, between agreed goal of limiting global warming and collective efforts that are on the table at the moment, and I see little prospect of significant increase on that ambition,” Macey said.

He encouraged the Dialogue to set up a Kyoto Protocol branch of the Dialogue to discuss strategies for integration into the COP Processes.KP branch of CD so we can make use of them if we are asked