25/01/2010 - Poor countries
will receive technical and financial support
from the Basic group (formed by Brazil,
South Africa, India and China) for actions
toward the mitigation and adaptation to
climate change. According to the Brazilian
minister of the Environment, Carlos Minc,
who attended the group's meeting this Sunday
(January 24), in New Delhi (India), the
Basic came to a cooperation agreement to
expand technology
transfer and to create a fund to support
developing countries.
"Basic was a place
for political negotiation and diplomacy.
Now, we're starting the cooperation, especially
between the group and developing countries",
said Minc. The group will support partnerships
of technical assistance for the appropriate
use of new technologies for adaptation and
mitigation. But the countries of Basic have
already been helping many poor nations around
the world.
Brazil, for example,
helps African and Latin American countries
to do the monitoring of their forests, with
the satellites of the National Institute
for Space Research (Inpe). This initiative
allows those countries to have access to
resources from the Redd (Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and Degradation) system.
In March, Brazil will hold, in Indonesia,
training workshops on mechanisms to enable
poor countries receiving resources from
Redd.
During the meeting,
the group supported the Brazilian proposal
to create a fund to help poor nations in
adaptation actions to climate change. Minc
said that the fund's resources will be set
by the presidents and prime ministers of
the countries of Basic.
The Basic group was
strengthened during the COP-15 with the
role assumed in the climate debate. The
group drafted a letter, addressed to the
secretariat of the United Nations Convention
on Climate Change, suggesting that it holds,
this year, another five rounds of international
talks - culminating in the COP-16, in December,
in Mexico.
The Basic has scheduled
three meetings for 2010. The next is scheduled
for the last week of April, in South Africa.
The group will also meet with other G77
members (group of developing countries).
According to minister Carlos Minc, the Basic
will also meet with representatives from
the United States, from the European Union
and from other groups to address global
climate agreements.
The group will also
meet with representatives from Mexico, which
will host the COP-16, to ensure that the
same thing that happened at COP-15 does
not reoccur. Minc said that, in Denmark,
several countries, especially those suffering
from the effects of climate change, were
not heard by the UN Convention.
The countries
of the Basic also pledged to sign, until
January 31, the voluntary targets for the
reduction of greenhouse gases emissions
presented at COP-15, in Copenhagen. The
signing of the so-called "Copenhagen
Accord" will happen on the same day,
in the four countries. The Brazilian goal
is to reduce emissions between 36% and 39%
by 2020
