Next Round of Crucial UN Climate Change Negotiations Set to Kick Off in
The next round of UN-sponsored global climate
21.05.2008 |UNFCC
(Bonn, 16 May 2008) – The next round of UN-sponsored
global climate
change negotiations is set to begin in Bonn, Germany,
on 2 June 2008. A
major focus of the UN Climate Change Talks -
Bonn, 2008 will be on a
strengthened and effective international climate
change deal, to be
clinched in Copenhagen next year.
Around 2,000 people, including government
representatives, participants
from business and industry, environmental
organizations and research
institutions are expected to attend the two-week
meeting. This constitutes
a record number of participants for the annual
Bonn sessions of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
On the one hand, the Bonn Climate Change Talks will
take forward the new
negotiation process on strengthened international
action against climate
change, as agreed at Bali in 2007. Workshops in this
context will take
place on the issues of adaptation, finance and
technology transfer. On the
other hand, talks on further commitments for Parties
to the Kyoto Protocol
will include considering the possible tools available
to industrialised
countries to reach future emission reductions.
Furthermore, the Bonn
climate change will advance ongoing work on
technology, adaptation,
reducing emissions from deforestation and capacity
building in developing
countries.
“Time is incredibly short to design a future agreement
that will
significantly step up action on adaptation,
successfully halt the increase
in global emissions within the next 10-15 years,
dramatically cut back
emissions by 2050, and do so in a way that is
economically viable and
politically equitable worldwide,” said Yvo de Boer,
UNFCCC Executive
Secretary. “We urgently need to make progress in Bonn,
seeing that there
is only slightly more than a year to come up with a
set of drafts for a
ratifiable deal at Copenhagen.”
In addition to the two working groups explicitly
designed to negotiate the
Copenhagen deal: the second session of the “Ad hoc
Working Group on Long-
term Cooperative Action under the Convention” and the
second part of the
fifth session of the “Ad hoc Working Group on Further
Commitments for
Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol”, the
twenty-eighth sessions of
the “Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological
Advice” and the
“Subsidiary Body for Implementation” of the United
Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place
from 4 to 13 June
2008.
All the meetings will take place at the Hotel Maritim,
Bonn, Germany. The
UNFCCC will give a curtain-raiser press briefing on
Sunday, 1 June
(12:30), an opening press conference on Monday, 2 June
(13:15) and a
closing press conference at the conclusion of the
meeting on Friday, 13
June (from 18:00). Parties and non-governmental
organisations will also
give press briefings throughout the meeting, the times
and locations of
which will be posted on the UNFCCC website
<unfccc.int> closer to the
date. Media must have prior accreditation in order to
attend UNFCCC and
other briefings.
Provisional agendas for the meetings:
Further information for the press
Further upcoming major UNFCCC meetings
A third major UNFCCC gathering in 2008, to be held
from 21 to 27 August in
Accra, Ghana will examine more closely a number of
crucial issues related
to enhanced action on mitigation. These include
reducing emissions from
deforestation in developing countries, which account
for around 20% of
global emissions, along with the issue of cooperative
sectoral approaches
and sector-specific actions.
The process of global climate change negotiations will
culminate in 2008
in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in
Poznan, Poland. This
meeting will particularly address research and
development of technology,
risk management and risk reduction strategies, and the
key elements of a
shared long-term vision for joint action on climate
change, including a
long-term target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Poznan meeting
will also be an important opportunity for taking stock
of progress made
during the course of the year.
About the UNFCCC
With 192 Parties, the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) has near universal membership and is
the parent treaty of
the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol has to
date 183 member
Parties. Under the Protocol, 37 States, consisting of
highly
industrialised countries and countries undergoing the
process of
transition to a market economy, have legally binding
emission limitation
and reduction commitments. The ultimate objective of
both treaties is to
stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that
will prevent dangerous human interference with the
climate system.
Press contacts
For accreditation and to arrange interviews, please
contact:
Ms. Carrie Assheuer, Public Information and Media
Assistant:
tel.: (+49-228) 815-1005, mobile: (+49 172)
179-8836 or
press(at)unfccc.int
For further information, please contact:
Mr. John Hay, Conference Spokesperson: tel.: (+49-228)
815-1404;
mobile: (+49-172) 258-6944
Mr. Alexander Saier, Information Officer:
tel.: (+49-228) 815-1509
mobile: (+49-172) 179-8835
See also <unfccc.int>
