Statement by the Gambia on behalf of the Least Developed Countries

Opening of the seventeenth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Countries under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP)

Doha, Qatar

Madam Chair, the Gambia has the honour to speak on behalf of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The LDC group wishes to associate itself with statements made by Algeria on behalf of the Group of 77 & China, Swaziland on behalf of the African Group, and Nauru on behalf of Alliance of Small Islands Developing States (AOSIS).

We would also like to express our appreciation and gratitude to the Government and people of Qatar for their warm hospitality, and thank the UNFCCC Secretariat for their excellent arrangements.

The overarching objective of our work here is to preserve the Kyoto Protocol as the internationally legally binding, rules-based regime to ensure environmental integrity and transparency of action which is able to deliver real, substantial and verified emission reductions that can be built on for the future regime negotiated under the ADP.

Madam Chair, we agree that in Doha we will close one chapter and open another. However, we must understand that the opening of a new chapter without the proper closure of the previous one will not lead to an ambitious future but will only lead to further increasing mistrust. Therefore, the nature and scope of the outcomes of the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period will decide the fate of the ADP negotiating stream and its work plans.

It is therefore crucial to agree on an ambitious, internationally legally binding second commitment period with as many Annex I Parties as possible.

Madam Chair, this implies:

• Adopting a 5-year commitment period to avoid locking in insufficient ambition for a longer period of time;
• Annex I Parties moving to the top of their pledged ranges by removing all conditionalities;
• The limitation of carry-over or removal of surplus Kyoto units and the provisional application of KP amendments.

Madam Chair, we must maintain the compliance system of the Kyoto Protocol for the second period and flexible mechanisms are conditional on participation by Annex I Parties to a second period under the Kyoto Protocol.

Madam Chair, those few Annex 1 countries that are not parties to the Kyoto Protocol must also take more ambitious and comparable mitigation commitments under the LCA.

Madam Chair, we welcome Australia’s submission of QELROs to the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol but we urge them to remove their conditions which will allow them to emit more rather than reducing their emissions.

Madam Chair, we reiterate that the Kyoto Protocol is a priority for a successful outcome in Doha. This is what more than 100 countries in the LDC, Africa and AOSIS groups are calling for.

I thank you Madam Chair.