Delegates at Marrakech climate talks continue to haggle over fate of key fund

A bitter row over the fate of a key fund aiming to help developing countries cope with adverse effects of climate change may prevent the Marrakech climate talks from ending as scheduled, delegates here warned Friday.

Informal consultations have been extended into night, forcing Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, president of the current United Nations climate conference, to postpone his plan to leave the southern Morrocan city.

Speaking at a plenary session of the conference, Mezouar reiterated his appeal to all related parties to accelerate their talks so that the annual climate conference can conclude Friday as scheduled.

Mamadou Honadia, head of the Burkina Faso delegation, told Xinhua that negotiators have been trying to bridge their differences over the fate of the so-called Adaptation Fund, which was set up under the Kyodo Protocol.

Developing countries are worried about the fate of the Adaptation Fund since the Kyodo Protocol will expire in 2020 and be replaced by the Paris Agreement, he said.

"The Adaptation Fund is dedicated to finance adaptation concrete projects. We don't want this fund to disappear," he said.

Developing countries demand a change in the wording related to the fund in a draft decision to be adopted by the conference, Honadia revealed, adding that the document must make it clear that the Adaptation Fund "shall," rather than" should," serve the Paris Agreement.

An explanatory note released earlier Friday by Mezouar says that the fund "should" serve the Paris deal.

Developed countries and developing countries have also been in disagreement over the time of resumption of the first conference of Parties to the Paris Agreement (CAM1) and its agenda.

Many developing countries that have not yet ratified the Paris Agreement, such as Burkina Faso, demand that CAM1 be suspended so that they could attend it as a signatory instead of as an observer, Honadia said.

He said that developing countries hope CAM1 would have a balanced agenda that would cover all major issues under the Paris Agreement, including mitigation, adaption and technology transfer.

The agenda under discussion mainly focuses on the implementation of nationally determined contributions and is thus in favor of developed countries, he added.

The two-week conference has brought together thousands of government officials as well as representatives from international organizations, civil society and businesses. It aims to pave the way for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Endit