Saudi Arabia weakens the position of developing countries in the UN climate change negotiations

Bangkok/Thailand: October 08, 2009 – Today IndyACT, with the support of Germanwatch released an analysis slamming Saudi Arabia for blocking and obstructing key elements in the international climate negotiations that are deemed important for safeguarding the poorest and most vulnerable countries. The study analyzed the the positions of various Arab governments in the current round of climate talks due to conclude in a new global agreement in Copenhagen this coming December.
The analysis examined all 22 countries in the Arab region. The socio-economical situation varies across countries, and it ranges from rich newly industrialized countries whose economy is based on oil trade, to least developed countries that suffer from extreme water shortage. Therefore, the needs and interests in this process differ from one Arab country to another. The main commonality between all these countries is that climate change will severely impact the livelihood of their communities.
“Despite the variability in the region, the current Arab position is mainly focused around protecting the oil-trade rather than saving the planet from the adverse impacts of climate change. Saudi Arabia has utilized its political weight in the region, as well as benefited from the indifference of many Arab governments towards this issue in order to dominate the Arab voice;” said Wael Hmaidan, Executive Director of IndyACT.
Historically, the Arab region has been very influential within the climate change negotiations process. For example, Saudi Arabia has a sizable delegation with long experience and strong skills, making it comparable to any developed countries delegation. This year, Sudan, which is both a least developed country and an oil exporter, is chairing the Group of 77, while Algeria, an OPEC member, chairs the African group. “The Arab governments can actually push the process forward substantially, but this requires the strong involvement of all other countries in order to create a balanced position for the region,” announced Hmaidan.
Many NGOs are concerned with the increased influence of Saudi Arabia, who has been recognized as an obstructionist, among developing countries, and how this will affects the urgent needs of the poorest and most vulnerable communities. “The poorest and most vulnerable countries delegations have been finding less and less space in this negotiation”, said Raju Chhetri from United Mission to Nepal.
The past two weeks alone, Saudi Arabia has managed to undermine several key issues that are important for the poorest and most vulnerable countries. They tried to move language that would specifically support poorest and most vulnerable countries; they delayed progress on adaptation discussions by insisting the inclusion of the adverse effects of response measures, although governments agreed to include it under mitigation in Bali Action Plan in 2007; they were the only country to block consensus on having an additional informal negotiations session the second half of November; and they even were the only country that said that there is no need to agree on a numerical global goal that determines exactly where we need to reach to save the planet from the catastrophic impacts of climate change. “Since 2006 Germanwatch has annually presented the International Climate Change Performance Index. Saudi Arabia was always the worst performer, based on three criteria: emissions level, increase of emissions and expert judgement regarding their international climate policy”, said Christoph Bals, Policy Director of Germanwatch.
The lack of ambitious target by developed countries is the main reason why there has been a lack of progress in this negotiations process. Nevertheless, it is crucial that developing countries come with the strongest positions in order to increase the pressure on developed countries. “The Saudi position in these negotiations allows developed countries to hide their very low pledges for mitigation and finance commitments. It gives them the possibility to point at the blocking positions of G77 and China and neglects the positive development within many countries in the group especially that of least developed countries and small island states”, concluded Bals.