[INTERVIEW] Argentine vice minister addresses unequal effects of climate change

Argentina's Vice Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Innovation Cecilia Nicolini speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the Argentinian Embassy in Seoul, Sept. 15. Nicolini visited Korea to attend the Global Programming Conference organized by the Green Climate Fund. Korea Times photo by Kwon Mee-yoo

Cecilia Nicolini calls for global cooperation to slow down global warming

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Although Argentina accounts for only 0.7 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions, the country in South America is facing grave consequences in terms of climate change.

Cecilia Nicolini, Argentina's Vice Minister of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation, said it is important for developed and developing countries to collaborate, especially in climate change funding, as climate change is a universal problem affecting countries all over the world.

"I think the key would be in cooperation, collaboration, building trust among countries and enabling transformation (against climate change) through funds and technology transfer within capacities," Nicolini said during an interview with The Korea Times at the Argentinian Embassy in Seoul, Thursday.

Nicolini visited Korea for five days last week to attend the second Global Programming Conference organized by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and discuss Argentina joining the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

"It's extremely important for countries like Argentina and other developing countries to work on the agenda of implementation for tackling climate change. We contribute less to global emissions, but we still have a very big impact from climate change and it is really hitting our economies, territories and people, mostly due to the vulnerabilities we have," the vice minister said.

"At this conference in Seoul, we discussed the challenges we are facing with other developing countries and also how this platform or multilateral organism paves the way for more robust relations regarding the funds to make a transition," she said.

She recognizes that the need for transformation to fight climate change.

"We have to really work on the transformation of our economic metrics in a sustainable way so that it can last and bring prosperity for our countries," she said.

The vice minister said it is important to discuss the means of implementation of climate change measures, but that it is not given high priority.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, developed countries pledged to provide $100 billion a year to developing countries to support them in adapting to climate change and mitigating the damage.

"Developed countries committed to a $100-billion goal every year for developing countries. But it didn't happen," she said.

Nicolini emphasized that it is important to create new rules to allocate the climate funds in a way that countries can respond to the situation in globally.

"It's just because climate change doesn't distinguish between where it hits ― if you're a developed country or developing country. Of course, the consequences and the losses and damages are worse in less developed countries because of the infrastructure and the capacity to respond to those distresses," she said.

"But we still see wildfires, floods and typhoons, and the situation with the prices of energy and food increasing (all around the world). So the challenges are great, but the opportunities are greater. So I think we need to focus on that," she said.

"We have to start giving a sustainable answer amid this complete shock and radical transformation of the way we consume and produce. If developed countries don't allocate the funds, it's a little bit more difficult for other countries to follow," Nicolini added.

Argentina's Vice Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and Innovation Cecilia Nicolini, right, shakes hands with her Korean counterpart, Yoo Je-chul, during a meeting at the Han River Flood Control Office in Seoul, Sept. 14. Courtesy of Ministry of Environment

She noted that Latin American countries provide a lot of ecosystem services to the world, but at the same time they carry a heavy burden due to external debts.

"This unsustainable debt prevents us from investing more and dedicating more funds in infrastructure or in climate policy. So at the GCF conference, we discussed a new, innovative mechanism for finance, such as debt swapped for climate action, paying for our ecosystem results with services, or green and blue bonds, so we can create these tools in order to be able to invest more and be more agile with this problem," she said.

She also met with Ban Ki-moon, former U.N. secretary general and president of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). Nicolini described the meeting very interesting, as Ban is "a champion on climate change and gender issues," which go hand in hand according to her.

"We discussed the possible inclusion of Argentina in the GGGI, the initiative that he's leading, to have a new tool and platform to access the funding and technical cooperation for all the plans that we have," she said.

Argentina's National Climate Change Cabinet recently outlined a draft for the country's National Adaptation and Mitigation Plan to 2030, consisting of six strategic guidelines for energy transition, productive transition, sustainable mobility, sustainable and resilient territories, biodiversity conservation and the common goods and sustainable management of food systems and forests.

Like many countries around the globe, Argentina has been suffering from the impact of climate change, including historic droughts and wildfires breaking out all year long.

"Not only Argentina, but many other countries in Latin America (recognize) the need to strengthen infrastructure, the health system and the education system in a way that we can respond to these extreme situations provoked by climate change," she said.

"We are talking with many countries about finding innovative solutions (to climate change) because (it is) something that we share in Latin America with many countries," she said.

She said Argentina and Korea have great potential for cooperation in climate change.

"Although we are quite faraway (from each other), we have had many challenges in common and there is a lot of ground for cooperation and collaboration in all these fields," she said. "We are looking for partners both in developing the energy sector, such as hydrogen, but also, the science and technology areas that we still need to work on."

Korea's prime minister is planning a visit to Argentina in October and the two countries are preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in science and technology, which could be an umbrella to cover the energy sector as well as diverse areas.

"So we are channeling all these relationships and also connecting with our private sector to foster cooperation between Korea and Argentina," she said.