(Communicated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection Spokesman)
A roadmap adopted by 187 countries at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali will chart the way toward a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires after its commitment period ends in 2012.
The conference, the thirteenth Conference of the 192 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the third meeting of the 176 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol was attended by some 11,000 people, including state delegations, NGOs and the press, making it the largest UN climate change meeting ever held.
The Israeli delegation was headed by MK Ophir Pines-Paz, Chairman of the Internal Affairs and Environment Committee of the Knesset and consisted of government representatives including the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Infrastructure, Environmental Protection, Central Bureau of Statistics and representatives of environmental NGOs including Keren Kayemeth Le'Israel-Jewish National Fund, Israel Union for Environmental Defense, Life and Environment, Friends of the Earth Middle East and Green Course.
The Bali roadmap was adopted in response to growing public awareness of global warming and in response to the findings of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and that delay in reducing emissions significantly constrains opportunities to achieve lower stabilization levels and increases the risk of more severe climate change impacts."
Major decisions taken in Bali include a clear agenda for the key issues to be negotiated up to 2009, including:
• action for adapting to the negative consequences of climate
change, such as droughts and floods;
• ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
• ways to widely deploy climate-friendly technologies; and
• financing both adaptation and mitigation measures.
Climate Change and Israel
Israel, classified as a developing country, ratified the Climate Change Convention in 1996 and the Kyoto Convention in 2004. However, despite this classification, a comparison of carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion between Israel and other countries shows that although Israel is a small contributor to global warming, it is not far behind some of the developed countries listed in Annex I in terms of its per capita emissions. Therefore, although not obligated at present to do so, Israel is determined to undertake voluntary activities to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
Israel's willingness to take part in the international effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions was clearly expressed at the Bali Conference. According to Ms. Shuli Nezer, director of the Air Quality Division of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Israel will have to, within a short period of time, define its emission reduction targets in order to take part in the emerging negotiations toward a new international agreement on climate change. How is Israel, a country with a continuously growing population and insignificant alternative energy sources, to do this? The best way, Nezer says, is to "increase energy efficiency and energy conservation, which should bring about a saving of more than 20% of the energy used in all sectors of the economy. Additional measures include use of clean fuels, integration of clean coal technologies and clean transportation." Nezer goes on to point out that "the reduction of local air pollution, a crucial element in the Ministry of Environmental Protection's policy, will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thus yielding a double benefit - global and local."
"The decisions taken in Bali a few days ago constitute a historic and dramatic landmark in the commitment of the world community to address a common target," says Dr. Yossi Inbar, Vice Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. "There are no differences of opinion as to the real need to do something. The question on the table today is what each country will invest, what each country will do. As far as Israel is concerned, we agreed, as did the rest of the world community, to enter into negotiations concerning our future obligation. We must find ways to cut greenhouse gases, which are emitted largely by the energy sector. In the future we will be able to reduce emissions through several means, ranging from the massive introduction of natural gas, and continuing through renewable energies such as solar energy and perhaps wind energy. However, energy conservation is of the greatest promise, and each of us can begin today to save electricity in the home and contribute to the global effort."
The participation of the Israeli delegation in a conference held in Indonesia had political importance alongside its environmental importance. During the conference, representatives of the Israeli delegation, including Dr. Yossi Inbar, met with the Indonesian Environment Minister, who was elected President of the Conference, thanking him for the opportunity to take part in the conference and for his warm reception.
In the wake of the momentous Bali Conference, Israel is now poised to begin exploring new ways of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the energy and transport sectors, and working with the world community toward a new global framework for the post-Kyoto period.