Adianto P. Simamora
THE JAKARTA ROST/COPENHAGEN

Green activists strongly criticized a controversial draft proposal submitted by Denmarks government .as the host of the global climate talks here, saying it was ""too elitist"" and that it benefited only the rich nations.

Kim Carstensen of Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the Danish proposal was too weak and failed to accommodate the interests of the developing and poor countries, considered the most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts.

""The Danish Prime Ministers proposed text is weak and reflects a too elitist, selective, and not-transparent approach,"" he said, referring to PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

""The behind-the-scenes negotiations tactics under the Danish presidency, have been focusing on pleasing rich and powerful countries rather than serving the majority of states who are demanding a fair and ambitious solution.""

He urged Denmarks leadership to change its style and listen to ""poor and vulnerable"" countries.
Carstensen said the focus of the Danish text was ""a distraction from negotiations that have just got underway in Copenhagen,"" the venue of the United Nations conference.

""Talks must focus on the text that has so far been negotiated and not on new texts that are being negotiated in small groups.""Fitrian Ardiansyah of WWF-Indonesia reminded activists of the need for ""a fair, ambitious and binding deal"" between the ongoing 15th Conference of Parties (COP-15) on climate change.

""On the opening day, the Prime Minister of Denmark sent a good signal to support the Bali road map and hopefully this is still the case,"" said Fitrian, who is WWF-Indonesia climate and energy program director.

He was referring to the earlier action plan formulated in the last global climate talks in 2007 in Bali.
The Danish draft text was leaked to many participants on Wednesday.The draft proposed halving greenhouse gases across the world by 50 percent by 2050, setting a 2020 deadline for a peak in world emissions and limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The Danish draft proposal would allow rich countries to cut emissions less, while poorer nations would face tougher limits on greenhouse gases and more conditions on available funds to adapt to climate change.

China. India, Brazil and South Africa have earlier rejected key targets proposed by Danish climate talks hosts in a draft text, which they fear would shift the burden of action to them, and constrain their economic growth.

The executive secretary of the UNs Framework Convention on Climate Change, Yvo de Boer, played down concerns over the draft, saying it was ""given to a number of people for the purposes of consultations.""

Two NGOs, the Indonesia-based Civil Society Forum (CSF) and Climate Justice Now sent an open protest letter to Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen over the issue.They also expressed concern as the host country only invited limited countries to discuss the draft.

""The draft of the Copenhagen accord has systematically denied the interests of developing countries for all key issues in climate talks. The document tries to shift responsibility in resolving climate change from the rich nations to impacted countries,"" said CSF coordinator Giorgio Budi.

He said Indonesian delegates should protest the draft saying it would threaten developing countries including Indonesia.One of Indonesias negotiators, Tri Tharyat, said Indonesia had not yet decided its position over the Danish text, saying it would consult other developing countries. ""We will discuss it first in the Group of 77 [G77] and China before making an official statement,"" he told a press conference.