The group of developing countries, which may once have appeared to present a united front to industrialized nations regarding the ‘adaptation’ component of negotiations, revealed its divisions during an informal meeting yesterday morning. A clear distinction has emerged between the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the richer developing states (South Africa, Indonesia and Nigeria in particular), revealing the many fractures within the group. The 130 developing country signatories to the Convention comprise a highly heterogeneous group, many clearly having very different issues to bring to the negotiations. Although they are often able to stand together against the industrialized countries, cracks are sometimes apparent.
In terms of adaptation, the issue at the heart of the discord is future funding to assist developing countries with climate change adaptation: a form of compensation for the pollution - past, present and future - of industrialized countries. This funding, because it should represent a significant amount - a figure expected to be of around fifty or even a hundred billion dollars per year by 2020 - provokes envy from developing countries. The countries considered most vulnerable (LDCs, small island developing countries and some African nations that suffer from recurrent droughts) push hard to obtain the largest possible slice of the cake. Other developing countries do not share the same point of view, and do everything they can to reduce the distinctions between developing countries within the text of the negotiations. If they are successful in doing so, it is clear that the funding share for LDCs and small island states will be greatly reduced.
The tension was palpable yesterday morning at an informal meeting on the drafting of the final adaptation text. LDCs insisted that the text’s content on vulnerability refers primarily to them, while other developing countries sought to remove any distinctions. Such tensions between developing countries exist not only with regards to the definition of vulnerability. Recently, small island states became involved in open conflict with emerging countries and oil producing countries over the issue of how to address the legal form of the Copenhagen agreement. Is it possible that this conference could sound the death knell for the entente cordiale between developing countries?