Anything for Thailand in those bags from Bali?

Anything for Thailand in those bags from Bali?
As some 50 Thai delegates unpacked their briefcases from the UN Climate Change Summit in Bali this week, a peek inside would reveal little or no evidence of any worthy contribution to help the world bring rising temperatures under control.

Published on December 19, 2007


"We will bring back the Bali road map to study and plan what new measures we need to take and how it might benefit us," said Kasemsan Chinnavaso, secretary-general of the Office of Natural Resources and Environment Policy and Planning (ONEP).

Unfortunately, the four-page Bali document lacks any binding commitments, which the European countries had sought and the United States blocked. The plan concludes that "deep cuts in global emissions will be required" and provides a timetable for two years of talks in which to shape the new global agreement by the end of the first commitment period of Kyoto Protocol (2008-2012).

Worse still, at the beginning of the two-week summit, most of the Thai delegation humbly explained that Thailand had sent the largest delegation, surpassed only by the host nation, simply because the location made it affordable to do so.

The Thai delegation did not plan to contribute to the negotiations in any major way.

"It's an opportunity to send young officials to learn about climate change," said Dr Suchitra Changtragoon, a division head from the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department.

"The problem is that these officials sometimes don't stay put. If they get transferred to other responsibilities next year, we may have to send new people and start all over again."

Despite vague results from the meeting, the tone in Bali clearly indicated that new rules for emissions cuts are on the horizon for developing countries. With the United Nations Development Programme recently reporting that Thailand's carbon emissions have climbed to 22nd in the world, like it or not, Thailand has to start planning how to bring these emissions down if it wants to effectively participate in future climate change negotiations.

The need for such reductions concerns Tara Buakamsri from Bangkok-based Greenpeace Southeast Asia. He decided not to go to Bali because he feels Thailand can't even meet the modest obligations it has been making to its own citizens, much less any commitments it may make to other countries.

He was irritated by Environment Minister Yongyuth Yuthavong's speech in Bali, boasting how Thailand is already well under way on a plan to tackle climate change.

"The minister, talked about big targets for renewable energy, from 8 per cent of total share in 2011 to 35 per cent in 2020. The truth is, we now barely have 1 per cent of our energy from those clean sources, and the national power development plan over the next 15 years is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels," Tara said.

A relatively new initiative in the negotiations that received a wide range of attention in Bali was known as Reduced Emissions on Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Two years ago, Papua New Guinea put a proposal on the table which requires developed countries to set up a fund to assist developing nations in their efforts to stop clearing their forests, a good initiative given that scientists say forest clearing contributes to about 20 per cent of the global CO2 increases.

Dr Suchitra from the national park department said Thailand's forestry sector might benefit from the new initiative.

"Thai forests are still being encroached upon by villagers. We could use the fund to protect our forests," she said while conceding that like the Bali road map, the forest fund remains largely an idea with no real structure or mechanisms behind it.

But Dr Sitanon Jesadapipat, an adviser for the Red Cross climate programme, fears that even when completed, such an eagerness to take a share of the fund could become a double-edged sword.

"We will first be required to demonstrate how bad deforestation is in the country. This could embarrass us, exposing our incompetence to protect our own forests. Who knows how that information could be turned against us [in future negotiations]."

With an 18-year logging ban supposedly being enforced, questions will certainly be raised as to how the existence of such a fund will make any difference.

Sitanon and others are also frustrated with Thailand's "Third World beggar attitude" immediately embracing policies which contain the word "fund" without any critical thinking as to what may be involved

Thai officials have been eager to extract money from the adaptation fund set up under the Kyoto Protocol, added Suppakorn Chinvano, an adviser to Bangkok-based SEA Start. He said before applying for the fund Thailand must have a clearer understanding of the climate-change impacts we intend to adapt to and how they might affect various sectors.

"Adaptation has become a buzzword in Bali because it's pretty clear that we may not be able to prevent global temperatures from rising beyond the tipping point of 2 degrees Celsius," he said. "That's why we must first establish a clearer picture and understanding of climate-change mitigation and adaptation."

However, he cautions that as the fund is now limited, it may not be worth spending the energy and the resources needed to secure a small share, especially when Thailand has yet to develop or prioritise an adaptation agenda.

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation