Israel cancels offical reps at climate conference.

As per Zafrir Rinat, for HaARETZ.com, November 22, 2007.

Israel will not be officially represented at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali next month, Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra announced unexpectedly yesterday.

Ezra, who was to head an Israeli delegation to Indonesia, said he decided to cancel the trip due to the high security costs. Ezra said that he’d “rather use the money we save for important things, like environment protection in Israel. We will be briefed on the conference, and I undertake to adopt all the conference’s resolutions.”

Israeli Environmental organizations blasted Minister Ezra’s decision: “This is the most important conference on the environmental issue preoccupying the world,” said Tzipi Isar-Itzik, director of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (Adam Teva V’Din). “It will determine the states’ dealing with global warming. Israel’s lack of participation is a harsh statement about its readiness to deal with the problem. The minister’s decision is inexplicable,” she said.

Knesset’s Interior and Environmental Protection Committee Chairman MK Ophir Paz-Pines, who was supposed to represent the Knesset in the Israeli delegation, said “it is unacceptable for Israel not to be there. I hope this is not an evasion, to cover up the fact that we have nothing to offer in the fight against global warming.”

Six Israeli environmental groups will nevertheless attend the conference, representing Israel NGOs.

The Bali conference is held as part of the meetings of the states that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - an international treaty aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gas in order to combat global warming.

The main issue on the conference’s agenda is drafting the agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which is the most important agreement based on the UNFCCC treaty. The next agreement is also supposed to determine the world’s states’ commitment to reducing gas emissions.

Until now Israel has not been included in the developed states committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, Israel Environmental Protection Ministry sources said they expected Israel would be asked to join these states.  “We’ve sent our official position to the conference, and said we’re willing to join the next agreement, which would include a commitment to reduce gas emission,” said Shuli Nezer, director of the ministry’s Air Quality Division, who participated in UNFCCC and UN Commission for Sustainable Development at meetings the last few years - meetings that were not held in an Islamic State that has no official relations with Israel. Israel is now  a member of the UN CSD.