Rajendra Pachauri, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), (via audio-conference) highlighted the importance of institutional arrangements at the grassroots level. He addressed the possible future role of the IPCC in adaptation work and proposed using the money awarded by the Nobel Peace Prize for capacity-building projects.

Hasanuddin Ibrahim, Ministry of Agriculture, Indonesia, gave an overview of the multiple stressors affecting Indonesia and the government’s strategies for adapting to climate change at three time scales. He presented highlights from Indonesia’s Adaptation Plan, including climate field schools.

Stephen Zebiak, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), said the world is already dealing with climate change impacts. He advocated engaging in activities designed to address current climate disasters in order to: yield immediate benefits; identify effectiveness of implemented measures; and build resilience for long-term risk. He identified a gap between scientific knowledge and stakeholders’ capacity to use it.

Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University, (via audio-conference) stated that climate change effects are already evident especially in poor countries reliant on agriculture, with the increased occurrence of extreme events. He elaborated on why the poor are more vulnerable to climate risks and noted that all coping mechanisms are a form of investment that the poor cannot afford. On the Bali negotiations, he stressed the need for immediate funding for accessing clean energy, avoiding deforestation and adaptation.

Pacita Barba, National Water Resources Board, the Philippines, presented on integrating climate forecasts into reservoir decision-making for the Angat Reservoir in her country.

Johan Kieft, CARE Indonesia, demonstrated the potential use of climate forecasts to trigger earlier action in mitigating the damage to peatlands caused by fires in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Participants discussed: institutional arrangements for addressing the gap between science and stakeholders; and links between poverty and climate change.

The session concluded with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration between IRI and the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture.

Hannah Reid, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), introduced the group “Capacity Strengthening of Civil Society in the Least Developed Countries for Adaptation to Climate Change,” and a project to raise awareness of, and mainstream, climate change in health planning.

Sumaya ZakieLdeen, Sudanese Environment Conservation Society, Mozaharul Alam, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, and Khumbo Kamanga, Coordination Unit for the Rehabilitation of the Environment, Malawi, highlighted research showing that correlations between temperature, rainfall and malaria differ across geographical zones in their countries.

Krystel Dossou, Women’s Organization for the Management of Energy, Environment, and the Promotion of Integrated Development, outlined a study on peri-urban and urban malaria, which found that climate change will cause an increase in the occurrence and treatment costs of this disease.

George Kasali, Energy and Environmental Concerns for Zambia, described increases of rabies, plague, malaria, dysentery and respiratory diseases related to climate change in his country.

Mizanur Rahman, Caritas Fisheries Program, highlighted linkages between climate change, increased salinity and health impacts, including hypertension, in Bangladesh.

Bimal Raj Regmi, Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development, described the relationship between typhoid, temperature and precipitation in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal.

Kristie Ebi, IPCC, emphasized the need to raise awareness of climate change impacts in the health sector.

Participants discussed: climate change and health in relation to gender, socioeconomic factors and urban areas; and the need for better health data and modeling.

Florian Kraxner, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), described reducing emission from deforestation (REDD’s) strong potential to mitigate climate change and transfer funds to countries to combat deforestation. He described a model used to predict deforestation rates, and the various scenarios considered. He said that under the “business-as-usual” scenario, 200 million hectares would be deforested by 2035. He commented that although forest certification holds potential, it has mainly benefited developed countries thus far.

Petr Havlík, IIASA, described the total land-use impacts of avoided deforestation, noting that agricultural and bioenergy production will be be affected. He introduced a model which takes into consideration the competing interests of food, energy and conservation, and highlighted potential synergies between environmental objectives, and conflicts between greenhouse gas reduction and food security.

Michael Obersteiner, IIASA, discussed the relative merits of incentive versus tax systems in reducing deforestation. He estimated that reducing deforestation by 50% by 2035 would require US$33 billion per year, noting that this corresponds to about the same amount that governments currently lose to illegal logging. He noted that about 15 countries are responsible for 80% of deforestation, and that efforts should target them.

Participants discussed: socioeconomic implications of “renting” forests for carbon storage, and whether tax or incentive schemes are capable of addressing the underlying causes of deforestation such as insecure land tenure.

Robert Tippmann, EcoSecurities, emphasized the importance of rural development in addressing both land degradation and climate change.

Luc Dubreuil, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), outlined FAO’s objectives of providing technical support to countries and ensuring food security, adding that desertification and climate change must be simultaneously addressed through adequately funded programmes.

Atiqur Rahman, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), gave an overview of IFAD’s work, and cautioned that climate change threatens poverty reduction gains achieved thus far. He noted that climate change has been commercialized and that this has increased the importance of working with the private sector.

Menghestab Haile, World Food Programme, stressed that climate change will affect poor people on marginal lands the most, and that one cannot discuss adaptation needs prior to addressing the basic food requirements.

Alejandro Kilpatrick, the Global Mechanism (GM), described the role of the GM in mobilizing resources in support of the UNCCD, noting a new 10-year strategic plan for the Convention.

Sabine Henders, EcoSecurities, explored potential synergies that could be realized in combating climate change and land degradation.

Bernhard Schlamadinger, TerraCarbon, called for the scope of the CDM to be greatly expanded, and described a range of desirable post-2012 projects.

Patrick van Laake, International Institute of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, stressed that forests, agriculture and communities are intimately integrated, and noted ethical and pragmatic reasons for engaging with local communities.

Participants discussed: CDM methodologies; community involvement as an imperative for adaptation; and the appropriate role of private sector financing.

Benito Müller, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), highlighted the gap in adaptation financing between current CDM contributions and the tens of billions of dollars likely required to address adaptation. He presented the International Air Travel Adaptation Levy (IATAL), which addresses this issue by introducing a 2% levy on all aviation travel, and outlined possible formulas for the levy: per passenger flight emissions; proportion of the ticket price; or a combination of both.

Andre Stochniol, International Maritime Emission Reduction Scheme (IMERS), outlined the IMERS scheme, which builds on the IATAL idea in the shipping sector. He showed how the scheme addresses multiple concerns of adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, and adequate and predictable funds, without curtailing growth in developing countries. He related how Norway had presented the idea to the International Maritime Organization, which was well received by the EU, Canada and Australia, amongst others. He lamented the limited cooperation at the current meeting on this issue.

Participants discussed: whether the IATAS would have real mitigation benefits; complications of allocation of the IMERS levy by country; technology transfer possibilities; other regulation techniques for a demand-driven approach; equity issues and the ethics of the levy; and bubbles for regulating within the scheme.

Adrian Macey, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, announced that the Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference Bill was tabled in New Zealand on 4 December 2007, and that the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) could enter into force mid-2008. He said the ETS will help his country meet international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol and the future post-2012 regime.

Mark Storey, Emissions Trading Group, emphasized that the ETS will be a Kyoto compliant, cap and trade scheme that includes all sectors and gases by 2013. He highlighted key debates, including a proposed phase-out of freely allocated units by 2025 and whether to include Assigned Amount Units.

Bryan Smith, New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, outlined the inclusion of forestry in the ETS in 2008, and agriculture in 2013. He described treatment of different forest types and addressed concerns over land-use flexibility for exotic forest land with a high value for dairy production. On agriculture, which accounts for nearly 50% of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions, Smith explained that its late entry into the ETS honors an agreement between the government and the pastoral sector and provides time to prepare for its introduction.

Participants discussed perverse incentives caused by ETSs and compensation for consumers in certain sectors.

Vicente Paolo Yu, South Centre, introduced the South Centre policy paper “Integrating Development in Climate Change.”

Martin Khor Kok Peng, Third World Network, stressed that developing countries are ill-prepared to negotiate the post-Kyoto regime and that the South is facing three development disasters: the current one; that caused by climate change; and the one that could be caused by the solutions agreed upon to address climate change.

Meenakshi Raman, Friends of the Earth-Malaysia, underscored that very little of the Kyoto Protocol’s obligations on finance and technology transfer have been met by developed countries and urged a review of what has been achieved so far before embarking on the negotiation of new commitments.

Sivan Kartha, Stockholm Environment Institute, emphasized that a viable climate regime should: ensure mitigation; enable the depth and extent of adaptation needed; and safeguard the development of the South.

Matthew Stilwell and Scott Stone, Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, described some aspects of the ozone process that may offer lessons for climate, including the funding of National Focal Points under the Multilateral Fund to facilitate technology transfer, and ambitious targets that keep pace with new science.

Participants discussed likely and promising schemes to implement the financial and technology transfer obligations of the North.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin on the side (ENBOTS) © <enb@iisd.org> is a special publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This issue has been written by Alice Bisiaux, Suzanne Carter, Alexandra Conliffe and Peter Wood. The Digital Editor is Diego Noguera. The Editor is Soledad Aguilar <soledad@iisd.org>. The Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI <kimo@iisd.org>. Funding for the publication of ENBOTS at the United Nations Climate Change Conference - Bali is provided by UNDP and UNEP. The opinions expressed in ENBOTS are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD and funders. Excerpts from ENBOTS may be used in non-commercial publications only with appropriate academic citation. For permission to use this material in commercial publications, contact the Director of IISD Reporting Services at <kimo@iisd.org>. Electronic versions of issues of ENBOTS from the United Nations Climate Change Conference - Bali can be found on the Linkages website at <http://enb.iisd.org/climate/cop13/enbots/>. The ENBOTS Team at the United Nations Climate Change Conference - Bali can be contacted by e-mail at <alice@iisd.org>.