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DE RUEHQT #1015/01 3362151
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 022151Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0492
INFO ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 001015 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KGHG ENRG ECON EC
SUBJECT: Ecuador's Position Towards the upcoming Copenhagen Climate 
Change Negotiations 
 
REF: QUITO 937 
 
¶1.      (SBU) Summary: The Ecuadorian Government will continue to 
support G-77 positions related to climate change at the upcoming 
COP-15 in Copenhagen.  According to Ambassador Federico Meneses, 
Director General for the Environment at the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Ecuador has placed adaptation to environmental change on 
the same level as mitigation and intends to treat the two equally. 
From a small developing country viewpoint, Meneses views adaptation 
as being much more important than mitigation.  In Copenhagen, the 
GoE will encourage a voluntary and transparent transfer of 
technology from Annex I countries, as well as the creation of a 
sustainable financing mechanism to address adaptation and other 
needs in the developing world.  Although Ecuador intends to promote 
its Yasuni-ITT project (ref A) in Copenhagen, the GoE does not 
expect serious support to materialize.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
Adaptation as Important as Mitigation 
 
 
 
¶2.      (SBU) Econoff met with Ambassador Federico Meneses, the 
Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Director General for 
the Environment, on November 23 to discuss Ecuador's positions at 
the upcoming Convention of the Parties-15 ( COP-15) to the UN 
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in 
Copenhagen.  According to Meneses, the Government of Ecuador (GoE) 
will continue largely to support the G-77/China positions that have 
been laid out in the meetings leading up to Copenhagen.  Ecuador 
supports emissions reductions by developed countries of 40% below 
1990 levels by 2020 and 95% below 1990 levels by 2040.  The GoE 
sees emission targets for small developing countries as of little 
use, and will not support small country targets.  Meneses noted 
that Ecuador, a small polluter currently and historically, will 
treat adaptation and mitigation as equally important. 
Realistically, adaptation is more important to Ecuador itself.  The 
reality of climate change will affect Ecuador long before any of 
Ecuador's conservation measures make any difference to global 
climate change. 
 
 
 
¶3.       (SBU) With a focus on what Ecuador needs in order to adapt 
to ongoing and expected climate change, Meneses said the most 
important outcome from Copenhagen would be an agreement on the 
transparent, verifiable, and voluntary transfer of green technology 
from the developed world to assist developing countries' adaptation 
(and mitigation) efforts.  Also crucial is a long-term and 
sustainable funding source to help underwrite technology transfer 
and other necessary actions by countries in the developing world. 
Meneses criticized the current Global Environmental Facility (GEF) 
as being too complex, unrealistic, and not delivering assistance 
where it was needed.  (Ecuador is receiving funds from the GEF for 
two projects at the moment, a regional program with Bolivia and 
Peru focused on glacier retreat, and another dealing with coastal 
adaptation to climate change.) 
 
 
 
Doing Our Bit 
 
 
 
¶4.      (SBU) Meneses did not totally ignore Ecuador's mitigation 
efforts, pointing out initiatives such as the USAID-supported Socio 
Bosque program, which seeks to protect existing forest and reforest 
denuded land, a similar program to protect the high-altitude 
paramo, a move to generate 100% of the Galapagos Islands energy 
needs from renewable sources, and, of course, the Yasuni-ITT 
initiative (ref A).  Meneses hopes that one of the Yasuni 
initiative's main constraints - that it is not Kyoto compliant - 
might be at least partially overcome if the Copenhagen conference 
agrees on a mechanism allowing carbon credits for protecting 
forests.  Meneses described the Yasuni-ITT initiative as a small 
country's attempt to make a difference in slowing climate change 
and in protecting a mega-diverse area.  A number of contacts in the 
Ministry for the Environment, including the Director General for 
Climate Change, Carolina Zambrano, have low expectations for 
Yasuni-ITT at Copenhagen, noting that it will be mentioned but not 
emphasized by the delegation. 
 
 
 
¶5.      (SBU) Although Meneses expressed understanding for the 
 
QUITO 00001015  002 OF 002 
 
 
limits placed on U.S. negotiators by domestic political realities, 
he stressed the need for the U.S. to take a leadership role in 
pushing for a successful outcome to climate change negotiations. 
While the GoE does not expect a comprehensive agreement from 
Copenhagen, it hopes for solid progress.  Meneses cautioned that 
there was likely to be a divide between his assessment of Ecuador's 
position, which included references to Ecuador's own difficulties 
in dealing with pollution and climate change, and the rhetoric of 
President Correa, which had a more political thrust. 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
 
 
¶6.      (SBU) Ecuador is strengthening its internal support for 
managing climate change.  On December 1 the Undersecretariat for 
Climate Change was created within the Ministry of the Environment, 
which is tasked with the lead on all national and international 
policy on climate change.  For Copenhagen, Ecuador will likely let 
the G-77 lead,  and focus GoE efforts on exploring the possibility 
of coordinating the Yasuni-ITT initiative with future UN REDD 
(Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in 
Developing Countries) developments and supporting the development 
of financing for REDD projects. 
HODGES