* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Nelson Muffuh, head of the U.N. Millenium Campaign project for West and Central Africa
The outcome of COP17 is a cop out and a compromise that no doubt saves the climate talks, but is not adequate to reverse dangerous climate change and secure the livelihoods of millions of people in poor and vulnerable developing countries.
Going into the U.N. climate summit, the weak outcome from the talks was predictable. The hope had always been that the pleas and demands from activists and negotiators from developing countries for robust action to guarantee effective emissions reductions and financing for resilient and clean development would compel developed country leaders to agree to do more.
The final outcome leaves much to be desired. It begs the question of when we will get the necessary measures that are binding, equitable and sufficient to limit temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius, while allowing for the realisation of the right to sustainable development, including the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The concluding decisions of the summit allow for further negotiations on a comprehensive outcome with legal force, the full operationalisation of the Green Climate Fund, and the possibility of the extension of the existing rules-based global architecture to reduce emissions - a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
It's almost tempting to conclude that world leaders are not yet sufficiently convinced about the threat of climate change, or the need to take meaningful steps to secure the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable.
The final stages of the climate talks not only required the undivided attention of world leaders but also provided them with an opportunity to launch much more ambitious and equitable action on dealing with the challenge.
EUROZONE DISTRACTION
However, it is telling that during the final scramble to secure a deal at all costs, EU leaders seemed to have their attention focused elsewhere.
At the end of last week, government heads from the most progressive bloc of rich countries decided to converge in Brussels to try to resolve the 'eurozone crisis' that has been attracting enviable and unprecedented resources and focus at a speed and scale that dwarfs their collective efforts on climate change. Other western leaders are also more concerned at the moment with avoiding financial meltdown.
The temporary blackout experienced by conference delegates at the Durban International Conference Centre as the official last session to negotiate and adopt the elusive deal was about to start only served to exacerbate the prevailing sense of gloom and apprehension that had been present from the end of the first week of talks.
This led to a night – well, actually a couple of extra days - of dramatic exchanges and interruptions in informal consultations that finally ended in an arrangement.
The weak and borderline unjust outcome does not alleviate the suffering of and threat to poor people - those who are least responsible for, most exposed to, and least capable of dealing with the damaging impacts of climate change.
Uninspiring as the outcome from COP17 is, it does provide a platform to continue discussions. Yet, in a sense, negotiating parties have agreed to continue to disagree on the key issue of differentiated and equitable binding emissions reductions targets, and to move the goal posts once more to allow further time for horse-trading and delaying collective action on climate change.
Nelson Muffuh is head of the U.N. Millenium Campaign project for West and Central Africa, based in Dakar. He previously worked as a senior climate advocacy adviser for Christian Aid.
