Conventions

Negotiations on what became the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC) were launched in December 1990 by the UN General Assembly. An Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) was convened to conduct these negotiations, which were concluded in just 15 months. The Convention was adopted on 9 May 1992, and opened for signature a month later at UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It entered into force on 21 March 1994, after receiving the requisite 50 ratification. The Convention now has 186 Parties and is approaching universal membership.

Since the adoption of the Convention, Parties have continued to negotiate in order to agree on decisions and conclusions that will advance its implementation. They have done so first in the INC, and then, since the Convention’s entry into force, in the Conference of Parties (COP) and its subsidiary bodies, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI).

In addition to this “routine” work on advancing the implementation of the Convention, Parties launched a new round of negotiations as COP 1 (Berlin, March/April 1995) to strengthen the commitments of Annex I Parties. These negotiations resulted in the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol at COP 3 (Kyoto, December, 1997). The Kyoto Protocol, however, left many of its operational details unresolved and referred these to the COP and subsidiary bodies for further negotiation. The Kyoto Protocol was signed by 84 Parties, and has received some 39 ratification. Many Annex I Parties, however, stated that they needed to have a clearer picture of the operational details of the Protocol before they could ratify it.

At COP 4 (Buenos Aires, November 1998), Parties adopted the so-called “ Buenos Aires Plan of Action”, setting out a program of work both to advance the implementation of the Convention and to flesh out the operational details of the Kyoto Protocol. This program of work was conducted in the subsidiary bodies and at COP 5 (Bonn, October/November 1999), with a deadline of COP 6 ( The Hague, November 2000). However, Parties were unable to reach agreement on package or decisions on all issues under the Buenos Aires Plan of Action at that session. Nevertheless, they decided to meet again in a resumed session of COP 6 to try once more to resolve their differences.

At COP 6, part II ( Bonn, July 2001), Parties finally succeeded in adopting the Bonn Agreement on the Implementation of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, registering the political agreement on key issues under the Buenos Aires Plan of Action . Parties also completed their work on a set of detailed decisions based on the Bonn Agreements, which were forwarded to COP 7 for formal adoption. Work was outstanding on a small number of decisions, however, and these were referred to COP 7 for further negotiation.

Status of the Kyoto Protocol Ratification
Kyoto Protocol to enter into force 16 February 2005 Bonn, 18 November 2004 – The 90-day countdown to the Kyoto Protocol’s entry into force was triggered today by the receipt of the Russian Federation’s instrument of ratification by the United Nations Secretary-General. The Protocol will become legally binding on its 128 Parties on 16 February 2005.
“A period of uncertainty has closed. Climate change is ready to take its place again at the top of the global agenda,” said Joke Waller-Hunter, Executive Secretary of the Climate Change Secretariat, which services the UN Climate Change Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.
“Next month’s ministerial conference in Buenos Aires will provide the next major opportunity for governments, businesses and civil society to promote the innovative new policies and technologies that will create the climate-friendly economy of the future,” she said.

COP 7 and the Marrakesh Accords

At COP 7 (Marrakesh, October/November 2001), negotiators adopted a comprehensive package of decisions known as the Marrakesh Accords, which marked the close of a major negotiating cycle in the climate change process. The Accords set out the details of the Kyoto Protocol’s rulebook and include important decisions on Convention issues. By finalizing the rules, the Marrakesh Accords open the way for countries to pursue ratification of the protocol and bring it into force.

The Accords specify, among other things, how to measure emissions and reductions, the extent to which carbon dioxide absorbed by carbon sinks can be counted towards the Kyoto targets, how to project-based cooperative mechanisms and emissions trading systems will work, and the rules for ensuring compliance with commitments. COP 7 also adopted decisions based on the Bonn Agreements, many of which aim to increase the flow of financial and technological support. The Accords establish a special climate change fund, a fund for least developed countries, and a fund to help developing countries adopt to climate change impacts, obtain clean technologies, and limit the growth in their emissions. A new Adaptation Fund will finance concrete adaptation projects and programs. In addition, the Marrakesh Ministerial Declaration was adopted as an input into the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The Declaration emphasizes the contribution that action on climate change can make to sustainable development and cells for capacity building, technology innovation, and cooperation with the biodiversity and desertification conventions.

COP 8

COP 9

COP 10

COP 11 and COP/MOP 1