Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Rights – Not as Scary as it Sounds

by Anjali Appadurai The climate regime is huge, transboundary, multidimensional. The UNFCCC, being the only body facilitating multilateral negotiations on climate change, is made up of a maze of different issues and tracks. The fundamental premise of the climate debate is that developed and developing countries are responsible to different extents for the current level of global emissions, but...

The Tragedy of the Least Developed Countries

by Graham Reeder and Nathan Thanki While there are more controversial and contentious issues regarding financing for adaptation (the report on the GCF today in COP plenary, or the report from the Adaptation Fund Board to CMP plenary), there are some interesting discussions going on elsewhere. For example, in yesterday’s continued opening plenary of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation,...

Post-2012 Climate Regime: How Much Worse Can it Get?

by Trudi Zundel The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will end in 2012. In anticipation of that ending, Parties have been discussing what form the new UNFCCC commitments will take. The first item on the table: will there be a second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol? Developed and developing countries have fundamentally different hopes for a Durban outcome. Developed countries are...

“Money doesn’t talk, it swears”

On the promise of the Green Climate Fund by Nathan Thanki Under the UNFCCC, expectations that the international community has regarding climate finance are clear. Article 4, paragraph 3 states that developed countries “shall provide new and additional financial resources to meet the agreed full costs incurred by developing country Parties in complying with their obligations,” and that there...

This is part of what is happening in Cancun

By Lurette Paulime At the negotiation, many speakers are talking about legal binding and equity for developing countries. They say that governments should implement new policies that guarantee social benefits for the women of the world. They also mentioned that mostly indigenous people and women are suffering from inequality and human right issues. Civil society and politicians must be aware that...