UN meet agrees on measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

The UN Climate Change Conference here has agreed on a set of measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation of forests but negotiators from 195 nations were stuck on curbing global warming and finance for a Green Climate Fund.
The agreement on the so-called REDD+ -- an initiative to cut emissions from deforestation -- was backed by pledges of USD 280 million from the US, Norway and the UK.
"REDD+" goes beyond deforestation and forest degradation, and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
"Governments have shown their firm commitment to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in Warsaw," said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

However, the deadlock continued on the fulfilment of financial commitment made by developed countries to the developing world and the text of an ambitious pact to cut global warming that is to be signed at the Paris Climate Conference in 2015.
Operationalisation of the USD 100 billion Green Climate Fund pledged by developed nations to foster climate-friendly development in poor and developing countries is a key demand by developing nations including India and China.

Figueres said governments have delivered a set of decisions that will make a significant impact in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries and catalyze actions in this critical area of climate change.

The decisions adopted at the summit provide guidance for ensuring environmental integrity and pave the way towards the full implementation of REDD+ activities on the ground.
The package also provides a foundation for transparency and integrity of action, clarifies ways to finance relevant activities and to improve coordination of support.
However, green activists assembled here said the outcome of the 19th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change looked as gloomy as the weather in the Polish capital.
"At Doha, developed countries had agreed to the second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol. However, so far only three countries have come forward to ratify the amendment that will allow the second commitment period to take effect. Worse still, countries have started to renege on their past commitments," said Chandra Bhushan of the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based NGO.

"In fact, India wants developed countries to reduce their emissions by 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. This is not going to happen," he said.