With only four days left before governments decide the Copenhagen Accord, President Arroyo was urged by over 30 local and international civil society groups to resist being rushed into committing the Philippines to the widely-criticized agreement on climate change.

The CSO Working Group on Climate Change and Development asked Mrs. Arroyo to conduct a thorough study on the Accord’s implications on the country’s climate survival and economic development.

“If the President is intent on leaving a firm legacy in protecting the long-term interests of the country, it is best that she adopt a cautious attitude towards associating the Philippines with the Accord, and she should strongly insist on returning the focus on working with the other Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to complete the pending negotiations in order that something concrete may be ready for adoption by the time the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC meets again in Mexico this December 2010,” the group said.

The Copenhagen Accord, which was agreed by huge carbon-emitting countries led by the United States during the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark last December, was seen as “not fair, not ambitious and not binding.”

The Accord is intended as a substitute for the legally-binding Kyoto Protocol that sought to move developed countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and finance the poor and developing countries capacity to cope with the effects of climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol is due to expire in 2012.

The 192 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) were given until the end of January to sign the Accord.

“An ambiguous, non-legally binding deal forged by only 26 nations led by United States President Barack Obama and orchestrated by Danish Premier Rasmussen cannot be a substitute for the legally-binding Kyoto Protocol which was crafted and agreed by all Parties under a transparent process, and which binds developed countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and pay for their historical culpability in polluting the atmospheric space,” Chito Tionko of the CSO WG said.

“It is the United States, the European Union (EU), and other developed countries that should change their production and consumption patterns and cut their greenhouse gas emissions drastically now in order for the earth to have a chance to recover,” Tionko said.

The group also called on the newly-created Climate Change Commission to initiate serious discussions among different sectors on the political, economic, and environmental ramifications of the Accord.

It also urged presidential candidates to speak their minds on climate change that will have long-term effects on the lives of the Filipino people.

According to CSO WG coordinator Rowena Bolinas, the money the Accord promises to deliver in the amount of US$30 billion between now and 2012, and US$100 billion by 2020, is largely uncertain and the Accord is devoid of specifics as to its source, provision and governance.

“The total amount of the non-binding pledges made so far falls short by US$2 billion per year,” Bolinas said.

She also said that “most of Japan’s funding is in the form of loans, while much of the EU money has simply been re-pledged and little is committed over and above the 0.7 percent of GNP (gross national product) aid target promised since 1972.”

“The funds promised by the US, on the other hand, are subject to congressional approval which is highly uncertain in view of the current debate among US legislators,” she said.

“In our view, this is an alarming indication of the type of financial support poor nations will be receiving as payment of the climate debt of developed countries — redirected development aid, more loans earmarked for private sector investment, and not the much needed adaptation funds for communities suffering the brunt of climate change impacts,” Bolinas said.