Cabinet has noted the national position for the negotiations on climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said on Thursday.

“Cabinet noted the document entitled ‘Key Messaging on Substantive Content Issues on the South African Position and National Interest’ should be used as a position to articulate the national position and interest,” he said in a statement.

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) explained to Engineering News Online that the document was drawn up by the DEA, and was a result of the negotiating teams participation at international climate change meetings.

The final position would go to Cabinet in October, and the document would not be made public before the seventeenth conference of the parties (COP 17) meeting in Durban at the end of the year.

The DEA further stated that the South African position reflects what the country envisages for a future climate regime, as such would not vary significantly at COP 17 because it is not a reconciliation of other party positions.

Previously, South Africa said it would commit to lowering greenhouse-gas emission by 34% below business as usual trajectories by 2020, and by 42% by 2025, on condition of financial and technological assistance from developed nations.

The DEA issued a statement noting that South Africa recently took part in a meeting to clarify the African negotiating position at COP 17.

The Africa Group Negotiators (AGN) - a negotiating bloc under the UNFCCC - has started developing the ‘African Climate Platform for Durban’, which would articulate the African position at COP 17.

A position paper would be presented to the meeting of African Ministers of the Environment for adoption at the Bamako conference in Bali, scheduled for September 15 and 16.

The group met in Durban from August 6 to August 10, and addressed issues on the two negotiation tracks under the UNFCCC.

The meeting further deliberated on a strategy being developed by the African Union Commission for the implementation and governance of climate response by the continent, through concrete implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions, and enhancing coordination structures in the negotiations.

“Our priority is to keep Africa safe through ambitious progress in the climate talks to implement the UN Climate Convention and its Kyoto Protocol, and an outcome in Durban that is science-based and fair,” stated AGN chairperson Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu.

On the Kyoto Protocol, the AGN emphasised the need for leadership on the question of the Kyoto Protocol, and urged developed countries to provide leadership by ensuring that there was no gap between the first and second commitment periods of the Kyoto Protocol.

The AGN sought results at COP 17 that would foster Africa’s socio-economic development through ambitious outcomes on both tracks of the climate negotiations to implement the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.

Operationalisation of the Cancun Agreements was required, and a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as comparable emission reductions for non-Kyoto Parties, were viewed as central to the outcome of the Durban conference.

The AGN said that in terms of mitigation, developed countries were called upon to undertake ambitious mitigation commitments from 2013 to 2017 of at least 40% and to reduce their emissions by at least 95% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

Adaptation should also be at the center of the deal, said the group, and a process for concrete implementation of adaptation activities, recognising that adaptation needs and financing depends on the emission reduction ambitions of all parties, should be ensured.

“Durban is expected to finalise an ambitious Adaptation Framework, develop guidelines and support for our National Adaptation Plans and build momentum towards a mechanism to compensate for climate-related losses and damage,” said the AGN.

Also under discussion was the issue of finance, and these discussions offered the opportunity for an enhanced common reporting framework for short-term finance, clarity about the long-term sources and scale of finance for developing countries, as well as operationalisation of the Green Climate Fund and Finance Committee agreed in Cancun.

“Africa is looking forward to a significant enhancement of funds pledged by the developed countries to assist developing countries meet the challenges of climate change,” the AGN added.

The next meeting of the AGN would be held in Panama immediately before UN climate negotiations begin there on October 1, 2011.

The DEA reported that about 200 people attended the meeting, including representatives of member States Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, the Republuc of Congo, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Lesotho, Liberia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia.