Closing session… the count down « It’s Getting Hot In Here

9:20pm : The COPMOP2 has adopted all decisions. The issues of voluntary commitments have been forwarded for futher consultation prior to COP13. All decisions adopted can be characterized as insignificant compromises. Russia accepted to move on without a decision on their proposal for commitments by non -Annex I parties in return for accepting Belarus into the ‘hot air’ club. The revision of the Kyoto will occur in 2008, and Parties missed the opportunity to improve the Protocol in Nairobi. For now, all the ‘climate tourist’ say good-bye from the Safari COP and will meet for yet another expensive meeting in Indonesia, perhaps for a Surf COP.

735pm
The 12th Conference of the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is closed. We now move to the tricky part of this meeting: the closing of the 2nd Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. We truly hope that negotiations will be done before midnight, thought last year we were not able to move from the plenary until 630am.
Many issues to still need to be addressed and resolved: the Russian proposal for voluntary commitments, the Belarusian intent to join Annex I to inject ‘hot air’ in the emission trading system, and the issues pertinent to Article 9 and the review of Kyoto.

We wont move from here until progress is made, and we will update IGHGH frequently.

SEE “WHAT HAPPENED IN NAIROBI” FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

About Juan

Juan Hoffmaister, originally from Costa Rica, is active young leader working to bring the environmental and development agenda together. He formerly served as youth advisor to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and has represented youth perspectives on environmental negotiations worldwide. His work has been featured by NPR and other media outlets, and has recently completed a Watson Fellowship meeting comity leaders from across 4 continents responding to climate-induced disasters and water stress around the world through community-based adaptation. He has been an active advocate in UN negotiations since 2005, and he believes that the industrialized nations have the responsibility of helping the poor and vulnerable cope with the impacts of our changing climates, and he is currently working with youth from around the world in creating a new international agreement to keep the planet cool. On his spare time, he enjoys diving, reading, and drinking coffee. More @ ChangingClimates.info