COP 15 president resigns
By Henry Lutaaya in Copenhagen
Connie Hedegaard, the president of Conference of Parties (COP 15) at the Copenhagen talks has resigned.
This was after ministers failed to reach agreement on two negotiation processes.
Under the Long term Cooperative Action (LCA) which includes all 193 countries, all the text remained in brackets – meaning that there has not been agreement whatsoever. In another process called Kyoto track (KP), developed countries refused to put numbers on targets to reduce emissions.
Ms. Hedegaard has been replaced with Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen, who will now take chair the high-level meeting of heads of state.
In the KP plenary, South Africa, on behalf of G77+China, asked for another day for KP work before sending the document to ministers.
The vulnerable groups (AOSIS / LDCs – not sure about Africa Group or China / India / Brazil) supported South Africa but European Union (EU) and other developed countries rejected the idea.
EU leaders say that the document is ready for a political decision now. Denmark and other developed countries do not want a legally binding document now. They want a political agreement with no targets and no commitments, which has been rebuffed by most people pressing for a Fair, Ambitious and Binding deal.
G77 are apparently furious that Hedegaard and the UNFCCC secretariat lied from the beginning that they were committed to a legally binding agreement. This after they discovered that Denmark has decided to table two new documents before Heads of State that will be debated in an effort to have the political agreement they’ve been looking for.
