The Green Climate Fund: Pacific urges action – no renegotiation

Samoa's Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Aliioaiga Feturi Elisaia at the Pacific strategy meeting for UNFCCC COP 17

Durban, South Africa, Tuesday 29th November 2011 - Pacific delegations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference currently underway in Durban, South Africa, are pushing for agreement on the Green Climate Fund.  

It is anticipated that the Green Climate Fund will channel a significant portion of the US$100 billion a year promised by developed countries by 2020 to help developing countries effectively responding to Climate Change. 

"We have spent quite some time trying to design the new Green Climate Fund,” said Samoa’s ambassador to the United Nations, Aliioaiga Feturi Elisaia. Ambassador Feturi is also the Pacific SIDS representative on the Transitional Committee of the Green Climate Fund, tasked with developing the modalities of the fund for consideration at the Climate Change Conference this week.

"It’s important that in Durban we reach agreement to progress towards operationalising the Fund,” stressed Ambassador Feturi.

But keen observers of the Climate Change Conference say that powerful developed countries may utilize the Fund as a bargaining chip to seek gains in other areas of negotiation. 

The United States, for instance, announced last week it did not support the Green Climate Fund proposal from the Transitional Committee, seeking more clarity on private sector involvement in the Fund. Saudi Arabia has also voiced its opposition to the proposed Fund, calling for response measures to be included in the scope and objectives of the fund. Response measures as currently argued by Saudi Arabia include compensation for oil-producing countries for revenue lost due to climate change actions. 

“It is important for us to capture some of the gains that are already in the report to try and resist any renegotiation,” said Ambassador Feturi, maintaining that for the Pacific, accessing the fund is critical. 

“We acknowledge that for us in the Pacific, accessing those funds will be a challenge due to our island countries’ limited resources to deal with these procedures,” said the Ambassador. “That is why we (the Transitional Committee) purposely included reference to utilising regional organisation resources for those who have capacity constraints. Everybody should have access to the Fund, whether through national means or regional organisations.”

Ambassador Feturi added that the report of the Transitional Committee looks at simplifying some of the procedures to access the Green Climate Fund. It also seeks to strengthen the ability of countries to access the Fund, including through providing support for planning and for project proposal development.

I think it is important for submissions to the Fund to be aligned with countries’ own national development plans – it’s the countries themselves who need to determine that, and they need to develop their skills to do this effectively.

If the Transitional Committee report on operationalising the Green Climate Fund is approved in Durban, its Board will be setup as soon as possible. The Board will review expressions of interests and make recommendations on the selection of the host country for the Fund for endorsement at next year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Qatar.

“It will be important for the Pacific to be represented on the Board, for we, as a climate change vulnerable region, obviously have a vested interest in this important process,” said Ambassador Feturi.

The Climate Change Conference, UNFCCC COP 17, opened on 28 November and will close 9 December, for more information on this please visit: http://www.unfccc.int/

Samoa represents Small Islands Development States on Climate Fund committee

17 March Alofi, Niue - The Green Climate Fund of 30 billion dollars to address climate change in developing countries was a topic for discussion at the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable in Alofi, Niue this week.

In terms of capitalization of the new Fund, Parties agreed that developed counties will “commit, to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.”

In order for these funds to be spent and dispersed the Green Climate Fund must be designed by a Transitional committee which was an outcome of the international climate change meeting in Cancun this year.

Ambassador Aliioaiga Feturi Elisaia, the Permanent Representative of Samoa to the United Nations spoke to all participants about the Green Climate Fund. Samoa is the representative to the transitional committee on behalf of the Small Islands Developing States.

“Unless the Green Climate Fund is going to be designed in such a way to respond optimally and in an equitable manner to the uniquely Pacific climate change needs of our island countries, irrespective of our sizes, political and economic influence or our colonial past,” said Ambassador Elisaia.

“If it cannot guarantee that as a minimum, then maybe we should opt out and do something else more productive and useful for our people. But we are not self defeatist, and we thrive on being challenged. We must bring all our partners together, as cooperation, collaboration and partnership is important. We must move forward together on this.”

The Green Climate Fund was formed in the Copenhagen Accord and includes billions of dollars to be spent in 2010, 2011 and 2012 for tackling climate change. It is to be made up of new and additional resources and not be part of the AID funding that is already dispersed in the Pacific region.

The Transitional Committee will recommend for approval. to the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework on the Convention on Climate Change in South Africa at the end of this year, documents outlining operation of the fund.

Once complete, the next step is for Pacific countries to work to ensure the Green Climate Fund will work effectively in the region.

“We need credible data that can validate and support our argument for tailored modalities and a SIDS special window to respond comprehensively to our climate-related needs,” said Ambassador Elisaia.

“We can be passionate about our challenges and aspirations for all we can, but if we do not have hard data and well-thought our proposals to back up our arguments, no one in the Transitional Committee will take us seriously.”

The Pacific islands are clear as to their expectations of the new Green Climate Fund –

Chanel Iroi, Solomon Islands: “At this stage its welcome news, we have to work hard to make sure this fund has an expediting process, we want to make sure we can access the funds as we have a lot of experience with challenges in accessing funds. Hopefully the transitional committee will look at these issues as to how best these funds can be accessed so we can actually get the work happening on the ground.”

Ms. Tanai Temata, Cook Islands: “My expectation is that it’s an expedited fund we get it faster, quicker and easier to the countries. That’s my biggest hope so we can get things on the ground running.”

Ms. Luisa Malolo – Tonga: “I would like to see more implementation projects in terms of climate change projects we should try to minimize conducting so much consultation and awareness assessments before we can get the funds. From a country point of view we really want to see results happening on the ground.”