Lima sets stage for Paris summit

The marathon Lima climate summit finally ended in the wee hours of Sunday morning, more than 32 hours after the scheduled finish deadline.

More than 190 countries reached consensus on a document named "Lima Call for Action", which sets a basis for a negotiating text at the Paris summit next year.

Xie Zhenhua, head of the Chinese delegation, said the outcome has met the Chinese delegation's expectations.

"We're not very satisfied with the outcome, but we think it's a balanced and good document," Xie said after the meeting ended on Sunday.

He said the Lima summit has taken a critical step toward next year's Paris agreement, and he believes next years' negotiations will be more challenging, and he called on parties to show greater flexibility.

The 13-day Lima summit was held in large tents erected in the "Little Pentagon" in the city's outskirts.

The hot and humid tents gave the negotiators a direct experience of the greenhouse effect - inside, they had to remove their jackets - but negotiations on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and to regulate global warming remained tough, especially over the past two days.

Developing countries were frustrated to see low commitments from developed countries and found many of their core concerns - such as the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, balance of mitigation and adaptation, loss and damage - were not reflected in a five-page draft text proposed by the co-chairs early on Saturday morning.

The final version of the document had been redrafted on the basis of consultation, thanks to the leadership of the president of the conference, Xie said.

Observers said the president met with countries and groups individually and redrafted the text based on these meetings.

A major concern of the developing countries, the "common but differentiated responsibilities", or CBDR, had been missing and was added in the final text.

Su Wei, China's chief climate negotiator said the Lima call for climate action lays a solid foundation for meetings next year.

He also said the CBDR is an important principle of the convention and all the platforms worked out at the Durban, South Africa, conference in 2011 enhance the implementation of the agreement.

"No one has a right to rewrite or renegotiate the convention," Su said.

Contact the writer at lanlan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/15/2014 page12)