Climate-change talks could help to raise the international profile of SEE countries
By Maria Khovanskaya
According to the Fourth Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change (2007), the countries of South Eastern Europe (SEE) are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In fact, countries across the region are already starting to suffer the ecological and economic consequences of rising global temperatures and decreasing precipitation. The European Centre for Nature Conservation, in a recent report, cites mounting evidence in SEE of climate-induced crop failure, flooding, soil erosion, alien specie invasion, biodiversity loss and decreased water-storage potential. Local communities will soon feel the knock-on effects from shortages of food, drinking water, fuel and building materials-effects that will likely drive up unemployment in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors.
SEE countries, now sufficiently alarmed by the global climate threat, have been quick to support international efforts to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects. Between 2004 and 2008, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia all ratified the Kyoto Protocol. With the embrace of Kyoto and other strategies to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency, and support for legislation to encourage the development of green technologies, it is clear that the region's countries are prepared to take on their fair share in combating excessive GHG emissions.
When it comes to other international topics, however, SEE countries are typically under-represented and at a severe disadvantage while at the negotiating table. A scarcity of human and financial resources-a hangover effect of postwar economic hardship-has thus far limited representative numbers among negotiating groups, in most cases, to just two or three people per SEE country. This inability to fully participate is significantly hampering the region's long-term prospects, and it remains a key challenge to somehow ensure that these countries can eventually benefit from the international climate-change process to which they have so readily subscribed.
One possible solution to the problem of under-representation is regional leverage, the model for which is the G-77 (1964), a coalition of developing countries formed to articulate mutual economic interests and boost negotiating capacity on the global stage. Pooled resources and personnel enable G-77 delegates to represent the interests not only of their respective countries, but of the group as a whole.
The Kyoto Protocol's Adaptation Fund could prove another means of assistance to countries in South Eastern Europe struggling with the effects of climate change, though the fund's regulating principles have yet to be fully developed. The fund board's inaugural meeting in March 2008 was an important step toward providing funding to developing countries, but it remains to be seen as to whether the SEE region will be eligible for benefits.
On some levels at least, the advantages of regional cooperation are already being explored. The Belgrade Initiative on climate change, for instance, was launched in October 2007 and received full support at the UNECE's Sixth 'Environment for Europe' Ministerial Conference. In bringing together ministers from across the region, the Belgrade Initiative's groundwork on mutual collaboration in the region will hopefully pave the way for the emergence of similar negotiation groups at the international level.
