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Published on December 15, 2007

There were some smiles and some disappointment as the international conference against climate change headed towards some consensus yesterday in talks that were expected to last until early this morning.

The Thai delegates even had some broad smiles as they left this resort island in the afternoon, five hours before the scheduled conclusion of the conference.

"We are quite happy with the result," said Aree Wattana Tummakerd, a senior official of Thai delegation and the last of them to leave.

"Some issues were expected to face difficulty [in reaching a consensus] but did not, while some unexpected issues did. However, overall I would say we are happy with the outcome," she said.

Among what Thai delegates counted as successes were progress on the "adaptation fund", deforestation and long-term dialogue, she said.

"The adaptation fund got its new administrative body with the Global Environment Fund as secretariat and World Bank as trustee.

"The deforestation project is under the carbon-trading mechanism, and the long-term dialogue remains just dialogue, not a negotiation mechanism as we wanted," the Thai delegate explained.

"We will hold a press conference in Thailand on details of the results, which [should be known] on Monday," Aree said.

However, the situation might not end up exactly as the Thai delegates assumed, as negotiations at the Bali International Conference Centre (BICC) were continuing late into the night, much after the scheduled close of the conference.

The scheduled 6pm press conference to announce the official conclusion of the conference was postponed to 9.30pm, before being postponed further at the last minute to this morning because details of certain issues could not be dealt with until the final hours of these two weeks of protracted negotiations.

Finally, Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, decided to talk to the press at around 9.30 to reveal the latest developments in negotiations that were expected to last through the night.

Focusing on the "certain level" of success, K Srinivas. a political adviser to the environmental group Greenpeace India, said he saw progress in technology transfer and adaptation issues. However, all the agreements in Bali are just a broad framework for further negotiations, he said.

"It is okay; better than not even reaching a broad framework," he said.

"Regarding the emissions-reduction target, we got a consensus on the range of reduction indicated by the Intergover-nmental Panel on Climate Change at 25-40 per cent reduction from the 1990 baseline by the year 2020. It is not that great, but acceptable to me. If they can demand it, EU countries should commit to a level of at least 30 per cent [reduction]," Srinivas said.

Among those most upset at the end of this conference was the alliance of worldwide civil groups who finally decided to call themselves the Climate Justice Now Coalition. They said the progress was too little and lacking in detail, rather than tackling the heart of the problem, which is practical ways to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

"What's missing from these climate talks is justice," they said in a strong statement. "Affected communities, indigenous peoples, women and peasant farmers called for real solutions to the climate crisis, solutions which have failed to capture the attention of political leaders.

"Inside the negotiations, the rich industrialised countries have put unjustifiable pressure on Southern governments to commit to emissions reductions. At the same time, they have refused to live up to their own legal and moral obligations to radically cut emissions and support developing countries' efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts. Once again, the majority world is being forced to pay for the excesses of the minority.

"We will take our struggle forward not just in the talks, but on the ground and in the streets," the coalition statement said.

 Kamol Sukin

 The Nation

Bali