Nagotiation Capacity can Helf win Climate talks battle

Speakers at a workshop in Dhaka on Friday stressed the need for building up the negotiation capacity of the developing countries in global climate talks to win the ongoing battle of climate change talks.
   Delegates of developing countries need to better understand the legal aspects of climate politics and strengthen country’s position at global level to enhance their legal and political capacity, they said.
   Ministry of environment and forests and Oxfam- Bangladesh arranged the two-day workshop on ‘Legal briefing on UNFCCC negotiation’ for Bangladesh negotiation team taking part in the UNFCCC climate talks.
   About 25 participants including government officials, NGO members and media people are taking part in the workshop arranged aimed at strengthening capacity to be aware of international laws with regards to global talks on climate change.
   While inaugurating the workshop, the secretary of the MoEF, Mihir Kanti Majumder, said negotiations under the UNFCC and the Kyoto Protocol had become more complex, both the issues under discussion and the process of addressing them.
   So, he said, the delegates need to augment resources as well as skills and knowledge to negotiate with larger delegations.
   Noted economist and a co-author of Intergovernm-ental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report Professor Qazi Kholiquzzaman said climate change was not now a geo- political issue. It is now very related to social and cultural aspects as it posed threat to existence of mankind.
   He said developing countries like Bangladesh had to strengthen their negotiation capacity as signing of a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate agreement was not possible without their active participation.
   Country director of Oxfam-Bangladesh Gareth Price Jones said in the negotiation process the developed countries always intended to dominate the developing states especially the least developing countries.
   ‘But we have to keep our efforts up till a FAB climate deal is achieved,’ he said.
   Two lawyers from Oxfam’s Legal Response Initiative Raj Bavishi and Ilona Millar introduced the international climate laws, compliance mechanism of the laws as well as legal basis of the Copenhagen Accord.
   Director general of DoE Monwar Hossain and Oxfam policy and advocacy manager Ziaul Haque Mukta also spoke on the occasion.