“No developed country should mistake the good will the ALBA countries have shown this week, for stupidity. We are not stupid countries, we will not sell ourselves out”, warned Venezuelan representative at the COP, Claudia Salerno.

The Bolivian government called for a press conference on Friday where Pablo Solon, UN Bolivian Ambassador, made reference to the need for an inclusive and transparent process of negotiations. Some social organizations denounced that a new secret text by the Mexican Presidency at the COP will be discussed this weekend at the negotiations aiming to have the Copenhagen Accord replace the Kyoto Protocol.

At the last minute, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Ecuadorian and Dominican official delegates decided to participate in the press conference called by the Bolivian delegation. The message was important: “We just had an informal meeting where we had to discuss how the countries were going to commit with reference to the Kyoto Protocol, that is, what are the things the developed countries think they could agree on”, said Claudia Salerno, and she added: “The message we heard, to our surprise, was this: there is absolutely no possibility that a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol will be agreed in Cancun”.

According to Salerno, “not even five countries” were the ones that presented this position. She also highlighted that the ALBA has worked “constructively”, “but when we find on the other side a country that states that they want to go to the beach because there´s nothing to do next week, we consider that in political terms this is wasting time”. “The ALBA countries won´t allow or support a situation that validates the fact that these countries will get their way and will not make commitments here and now”, she added.

The Kyoto Protocol is the only existing legally binding tool, which under the authority of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change makes developed countries commit to reducing polluting emissions. We still are on the first commitment period of the Protocol (2008-2012), but it is necessary to reach an agreement regarding the second period (2013-2017) so that the national governments can ratify it on time. “We are already behind”, said Solon at the press conference, concerned about the loopholes between both commitment periods.

Then, the journalists asked which the countries that want to destroy the Kyoto Protocol are. Japan has already publicly announced that they will not accept a second commitment period, but the rest of the countries remain unknown. The ALBA representatives chose not to specify these countries to preserve the multilateral framework of the negotiations. They also explained that on Saturday they will know the positions of developed countries on the issue through the new texts drafted by the chairs of the negotiation tables.

“We´ve said to the chairs that we need them to use the time left to advance and try to change the position of these countries”, said Salerno. “Laws cannot be negotiated, they have to be respected, nobody forced them to sign the Kyoto Protocol”, she added.

The Venezuelan delegate stated that if these positions are confirmed, there won´t be an agreement on any other issue, because the ALBA will not approve of anything that risks the lives of human beings (due to the consequences of climate change). “Our countries are not for sale, there is no money in the world that can buy ALBA´s position”.

Anyway, Salerno made clear that in no case are the ALBA countries thinking of leaving the negotiations. “Not even in the worst circumstances in Copenhagen we left”, said Salerno, making reference to the anti-democratic process, outside the multilateral framework, suffered in the climate talks held last December in Denmark.

Solon had said before the other ALBA delegates arrived that “there has been little progress on the substantial matters, those related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions”. “There is a complete uncertainty over the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol. From our point of view, this is unacceptable”, he stated.

Nicaraguan delegate, Jaime Hermida, said that all the African and Arab countries and the G77+China (over 130 developing countries) support ALBA´s position of not agreeing on anything if the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol is ruled out.

“We believe that this is when the fate of the Cancun conference is being decided. The document which will be issued tomorrow has to be very clear”, said Solon.

Photo: Friends of the Earth International