South Africa backs two-track climate plan
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South Africa's Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said on Wednesday that the country supported a two-track, legally binding outcome for climate change.
South Africa, which will host next year's United Nations climate change talks, had adopted this stance at the climate change talks in Mexico over the past week.
In doing so, South Africa aligned itself with other developing countries, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported.
Molewa told SAPA that developed countries have agreed to continue work on a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
All countries agreed to list their commitments or actions and an outline of "the major building blocks for a future multi- lateral climate change regime."
She explained that South Africa, along with most other developing countries in Africa, called for a two-track legally binding outcome. The commitment by developed countries is one track.
On the second track, developing countries would contribute to the solution to climate change, but would need finance and technological support, she said.
The 16th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the sixth meeting of parties to the Kyoto Protocol was hosted in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10.
Molewa said the adoption of the Cancun agreement was an "extraordinary achievement" which has preserved the possibility for a two-track legally binding outcome.
Further negotiations will take place at the climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, in December 2011.
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