Thursday 1 October 2009

Gawd 'elp us! It's the draft from hell


This week the United Nations released its draft document for the UNFCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A quick glance shows that the only wording fully agreed on is the date at the top of the cover page and the Introduction.
One hundred and eighty-one pages of at times incomprehensible double-speak, as the working group battles to finalise this document in time for December's Copenhagen Summit.
This is one of those clauses:
30. [[A subset of] [NAMAs by developing country Parties [shall be][are actions] [Depending on the nature of NAMAs by developing country Parties, they may be] supported and enabled by technology, financing and capacity-building in accordance with Articles 4.3 and 4.7 of the Convention and undertaken in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner.] [Supported and enabled NAMAs [and][as well as] the support for NAMAs [have been already progressed based on unilateral efforts as well as being] [shall] be undertaken in a measurable, reportable and verifiable manner. [The extent of mitigation actions undertaken by developing countries will depend on [negative cost measures and] the effective provision of financial, [and] technological and capacity-building support by developed country Parties.]]
Don't that just ring your bell!
Unfortunately, what is clear is that the world is way behind schedule in responding to climate change and that as you and I enter old age some of the worst effects will probably be coming down on our grey heads.

Graphic found at Google Images

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