UN Climate Change Negotiating Sessions kick off in Bonn

Mardi, 17 Mars 2009 15:54

The first in a series of major UN negotiating sessions this year, designed to culminate in an ambitious and effective international climate change deal in Copenhagen in December, is set to get underway on 29 March 2009 in Bonn, Germany.

The Bonn talks, which will run to 8 April 2009, will be attended by more than 2,000 participants, including government delegates, representatives from business and industry, environmental organisations and research institutions.

"The road to Copenhagen is under intensive construction and all its builders are seriously committed to successful completion," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). "Real negotiating mode is just beginning and with only around six weeks of actual face-to-face talking time, the Copenhagen clock keeps steadily ticking down. So minds need to be very focused," he added.

The first round of UN Climate Change Talks Bonn, 2009 comprise the 5th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 5) and the 7th session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP).

Parties meeting under the Convention in Bonn will discuss a key document that describes areas of convergence in the ideas and proposals from Parties, explores options for dealing with areas of divergence, and identifies any gaps that need to be filled in reaching an effective and ambitious climate change deal in Copenhagen in December.

Discussions under the Kyoto Protocol during the March/April Bonn session on emissions reductions to be achieved by industrialised countries after 2012 will be a further key issue at the first Bonn session in 2009, along with improvements to emissions trading and the Kyoto Protocol’s so-called "project-based mechanisms".

"Following the first round of discussions in Bonn, we will have a much better sense of both where we already have a solid foundation for agreement, but also where input is still lacking for a workable agreed outcome in Copenhagen," said Yvo de Boer.


Read more about the conference here:
http://unfccc.int/meetings/intersessional/bonn_09/items/4753.php