After demanding negotiations before and during the Bali session, the states meeting in Bali agreed on a final declaration. This is the first statement of its kind in 10 years. The declaration states that it is necessary to have deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve the goal of the temperature rise not exceeding 2 degrees Celsius, and the Ministers expressed willingness to strengthen international climate co-operation and reaffirmed their commitment to work constructively towards a comprehensive new climate agreement prior to the end of 2010.
Minister Solheim calls for more delivery and less bureaucracy
Erik Solheim wants to reform the United Nations environmental work. On February 24 the debate in the Governing Council embraced the UN's work on environmental issues. Minister Erik Solheim called for more delivery and less bureaucracy. He criticized the way in which the world's environmental activities are organized, and he called for reforms.
In his presentation, Minister Solheim claimed that the UN's work on environment is inefficient, fragmented, costly and time consuming. He also said that the funding of the UN's environmental work is unpredictable and randomised. He called for stronger co-ordination from the central government body of the United Nations.
Tight schedule
The following day, Minister Solheim co-chaired a round table conference on the green economy. In his opening speech he underlined the importance of considering both the environment and development as a whole, on the path to achieving a green economy. He stated that "without development, it is much harder to get a good environment, and without a good environment there will be no development". He also noted that it is precisely the poorest communities in the world which suffer the most from a poor environment.
The Norwegian Minister also had bilateral talks with Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Indonesia's Minister of Environment, the French Minister of Environment and Minister of Environment from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the meeting with the Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the two Ministers discussed the opportunity to intensify cooperation on REDD (Redused Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) and Minister Solheim stressed that all Norwegian support on REDD will be results based. The Ministers also discussed the current situation in Sri Lanka and the forthcoming elections in Myanmar.
BBC World Debate
The BBC was prominent in Bali where it conducted its weekly "World Debate". The panel included UNEP executive director, Achim Steiner, economics of biodiversity report leader, Pavan Sukhdev, Indonesian minister of trade, Mari Pangestu, Environment and Development Minister, Erik Solheim and Nobel peace prize-laureate Wangari Maathaai.
Solheim, Sukhdev and Maathai prepare for the debate. One of the issues in the debate was how the green economy might develop after the Copenhagen. The panelists generally agreed that it is impossible to improve the environment without focusing on development assistance for the least developed countires. The program is available on
BBC World Debate's web site.
The meeting was attended by some 1,000 participants from 130 countries, including nearly 100 Environmental Affairs Ministers.
Read the Nusa Dua Declaration.