Molewa said by Friday might see an agreement as high level debates are in progress and are expected to run till the early hours of Friday if not Saturday.
“From the indications that we are getting, a lot of ground have been covered with negotiators having almost exhausted the technical issues. The remaining technical issues can only be unlocked with the current political discussions,” she said.
The issue that are of contusion are issues around finance and also the commitment of countries on the level of ambition.
A key issue for developing and developed countries is the Long Term Cooperation Agreement (LTCA), which is expected to expire at the end of the year, she said.
According to some reports, the European Union has called for a conclusion to the LCA, citing that future funding for the climate mitigation and technology transfer to poor nations will be handled through processes that were initiated in Durban last year.
“One of the triumphs of Durban was the resurgence of multilateralism, which must be kept at the highest level on a continuous basis,” Molewa said.
The minister said the post Durban era was dominated by cementing of relationships and a certain level of confidence that has been built in multilateralism.
Kyle Ash, Senior Legislative representative for Greenpeace USA said as the conference draws nearing its conclusion, they are concerned that the outcome is still far from certain.
Ash said almost all major negotiation topics remain and they see little progress on overarching objectives.
“Ministers arrived this week to pick up the mantle. They must improve the negative trend,” he said.
In Durban, the global community, with the exception of USA, agreed the Kyoto Protocol would continue. In part because the United States is not intervening, many countries generally expect success on this objective for Doha. Kyoto commitments end this year, so Kyoto Parties must agree on a new commitment period to start on January 1, 2013.
But Ash says however, countries have yet to even sort out the length of the second period (five or eight years) and many have offered no pollution targets. “Most of the 2020 targets so far are pitiful, such as the business-as-usual 20% from the EU and the 0,5% from Australia.
“Loopholes plague the integrity of Kyoto, but countries like Poland grapple to maintain the carbon market's large surplus of polluter 'rights' or assigned amount units, dubbed hot air. This inspires despondence for the next conference, likely to be in Poland, particularly when the EU seems almost content with the Polish position,” Ash adds.
He said that all negotiation issues must either be agreed, or intentionally placed into a new negotiation track as was decided in Durban through the Ad-hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform.
“We need to see a strong second phase of the Kyoto Protocol, and we need to see a workable plan that ensures a legally-binding agreement in 2015. The ministers in Doha have only a few days left to show the world that there is still hope for a habitable planet,” Ash said.
Post published in: News