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UN climate change negotiations
progressing
10 November 2006 – Climate change
negotiations at a United Nations conference in Nairobi are progressing toward
decisions on key issues that include adaptation, financial mechanisms,
deforestation, technology transfer and capacity building, officials there said
today.
Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said countries, in discussions
on reducing future emissions, were focusing on a workplan for subsequent
negotiations. They have agreed that the next step should focus on “mitigation
potential,” or “what can we actually do to reduce emissions of industrialized
countries.”
Concluding the first week of talks, the 189
parties to the Climate Change Convention are also discussing various ways to
move forward on future commitments for industrialized countries to reduce
emissions after the Kyoto Protocol, which covers a commitment period of 2008 to
2012.
“The Convention is telling you that you
need to avoid dangerous anthropogenic interference with climate systems,” Mr. de
Boer said. “In order to achieve that goal you need to take action. The question
is how can you take that action most effectively at the national level and
through cooperation at the international level.”
Mr. de Boer said a proposal from the
Russian Federation that would make it possible for any country in the future to
make voluntary commitments to reduce emissions was the subject of serious
discussions and disagreements, and that countries were deciding how to deal with
it.
Progress has been on an international
programme to reduce emissions in countries with economies in transition.
The programme, known as Joint
Implementation, provides a new market-based mechanism to promote emission
reducing projects through cooperation between industrialized countries and
countries with economies in transition, was officially launched on 26 October.
Another mechanism, the Clean Development Mechanism, already exists to promote
development in developing countries through the trading of emission rights.
Daniela Stoycheva, Chair of the Joint
Implementation Supervisory Committee that oversees Joint Implementation, said
four projects had been received so far, in Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine, and
that 125 were expected in 2007. She said countries that buy emission rights
included Austria, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Netherlands and Spain.
Mr. de Boer said there is a very large
potential for Joint Implementation projects in countries with economies in
transition because emissions can be reduced to a lower cost there.
Source: UN News Service
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