We are determined to go to the next conference in Bali to achieve a result.
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On the eve of high level meetings at the Climate Change Conference in Bali, the pace quickened today as agreement was reached in several areas. One such issue was the financing of adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. Today, delegates agreed that the Washington-based financial organisation, The Global Environment Facility (GEF), would become Secretariat of the Fund with the World Bank, the Fund’s trustee.
Negotiations on how to organise and implement the Fund had, in the past, been fairly disruptive with many developing countries unhappy with the way the GEF had been managing climate change funds in general and unwilling to agree to the organisation's involvement with the Fund. Today's decision represents a breakthrough in the stalemate between the pro GEF faction, led by the EU, and the developing country group of 77 who were originally against the GEF managing the Fund. The new administration of the Fund will be operational with the start of the Protocol’s first commitment period in 2008.
Progress was also made on carbon capture and storage (CCS), the burying of greenhouse gases in geological formations, with Parties considering the possible inclusion of it as an activity under the Clean Development Mechanism for the first time. This had been discussed previously at the conference but with no decision taken. CCS is widely regarded as a promising technology to enable the continued use of fossil fuels in a clean way, of huge significance for countries relying strongly on the use of coal in the future, such as the US, China and India.
Security at Bali also tightened today, with crowds gathering as ministers and a handful of Presidents began arriving for tomorrow’s meetings. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also arriving in Bali today said that “all we need is the resolve to act” adding that Bali is just the the starting point for launching a process that is "comprehensive and inclusive" to address climate change.
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