Presentation

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to 14, 1992.1 On June 12, 1992, 154 nations signed the UNFCCC, that upon ratification committed signatories' governments to a voluntary "non-binding aim" to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases with the goal of "preventing dangerous interference with Earth's climate system."2 Parties to the UNFCCC have a number of commitments under the convention, including:3 a. Submitting a national inventory of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases.4 b. Implementing national programs to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts. c. Strengthening scientific and technical research and systematic observation related to the climate system, and promoting the development and diffusion of relevant technologies.5 d. Promoting education programs and public awareness about climate change and its likely effects.6 The parties agreed in general that they would recognize "common but differentiated responsibilities,"7 with greater responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the near term on the part of developed/industrialized countries which were identified in Annex I8 of the UNFCCC and thereafter referred to as "Annex I" countries.

The UNFCCC Conference of the Parties met for the first time in 1995 in Berlin, Germany. The fifteenth meeting of the Parties occured in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the fall of 2009. In the intervening years, there have been several notable meetings. 4.1 Ups and Down faced by Kyoto Protocol. Recent progress: Between November 28 and December 9, 2005 the United Nations Convention on Climate Change organized the most recent Climate Change Conference, which was held in Montreal,

UN Conference on Environment and Development (1992) http://www.greeningtheblue.org/what-the-un-is-doing/united-nations-framework-convention-climate-changeunfccc 3 List of UNFCCC Annex I Parties to the Convention. Retrieved feb 15, 2012. 4 Full Text of the UNFCCC, "Article 2" Retrieved feb 7, 2012. 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Framework_Convention_on_Climate_Change 6 The United Nations Climate Conference Change in Bali, United Nations Foundation on Climate Change.Retrieved on feb 15, 2012. 7 List of UNFCCC Annex I Parties to the Convention. Retrieved July 5, 2009. 8 List of UNFCCC Annex I Parties to the Convention. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
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Canada. 190 nations were represented at the conference, which made it the largest environmental summit of intergovernmental character since 1997. The Montreal conference followed two separate tracks associated with the two pacts on climate change the Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto itself.9 On the first track, the Kyoto parties focused on final revisions and finishing touches to the Protocol. They improved the market mechanisms of achieving Kyotos goals, agreed on establishing a fund to aid developing economies which may face the negative consequences of global warming, such as sea-level rise or changes in rainfall patterns, and started considering talks on a new list of goals that would come into action after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The second track was related to discussions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Participants in the talks included countries, such as the United States and Australia, which have not been willing to legally bind themselves to the ambitious targets of the Kyoto Protocol. The talks on this track only had a wishful character, without demanding the participating parties to commit themselves to any definite goals and timetables. Another point of significance came from the fact that the voluntary talks were the way to attract developing countries into discussions and eventually efforts of limiting their greenhouse-gas emissions, which have been rising due to their industrialization. Now the troubles faced by Kyoto protocol are despite the Kyoto protocol's ambitious goals, even countries that have shown to be its leading advocates, such as Japan, Canada, and the members of the European Union wont be able to meet their targeted reductions of emissions. This poses the question whether the protocol is not hypocritical. True, it could be argued that the Kyoto Protocol is a big hypocrisy, because no country that has ratified it, would be able to meet its target levels of emission-reduction. However, the protocol has served as a good start. I, personally, view it as a preparation, a necessary step to achieving a further international consensus that would prove to be more effective. The protocol has laid the base for such a future strategy by increasing the global awareness of the issue, stimulating research into the area of global warming, and providing an incentive for the development of science and technology to help curb emissions. However, it is necessary that the reduction of gases is indeed done on a global scale, because the greenhouse gases mix and cannot be isolated solely over the territory of the countryemitter. Therefore the global community needs to come up with a strategy to involve as many

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nations as possible with the issue of emission cuts. A challenge to that end is that in 2001 the worlds biggest greenhouse gas emitter, the United States, responsible for 25% of the worlds greenhouse-gas emissions dropped out of the Kyoto agreement. The reason was that the drastic curb of 7% on its emissions, as targeted by the Kyoto Protocol, would severely harm the countrys economy. By withdrawing its support on mandatory emission restrictions, one of todays most influential countries is not acting as a good example for the rest of the world. Another problem lies in the fact that under Kyoto, developing nations, such as China and India, are not obliged to cut their emissions.10 The reason why under the protocol developing economies are not required to meet definite emission-reduction targets is not to hinder the countries economic development and progress. However, who determines when countries in transition, such as these two, have completed their development process? Therefore, it is important to determine when exactly a country in economic transition should start to be considered a developed country in terms of contributing to the worlds efforts to slow down global warming.

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Kyoto Protocol Status of Ratification. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 2006 10 July. 2006 12 October. <http://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/kyoto_protocol/application/pdf/kpstats.pdf>