UN climate change talks begin in Doha with call to Global solidarity
November 27, 2012: Thousands of government representatives, international organizations
and civil society members have gathered in the Qatari capital of Doha for the United
Nations Climate Change Conference, which kicked off on Monday with a call to build
on and implement previously agreed decisions to curb global carbon emissions by the
year 2020. “We have a precious opportunity over the coming days, and we must make
full use of it,” said the President of the Conference of the Parties (), Abdullah
bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, on the opening day of the talks, urging conference attendees
to stick to agreed timetables and speedily implement already-agreed decisions. The
ten-day meeting brings together the 195 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (), the parent treaty of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Under the Protocol,
37 States – consisting of highly industrialized countries and countries undergoing
the process of transition to a market economy – have legally binding emission limitation
and reduction commitments. Government delegates at the Conference will, among other
goals, try to extend the Kyoto Protocol, which expires at the end of 2012. In
her opening remarks to the Conference, UNFCCC’s Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres,
highlighted recent UN-led reports which point to the urgency of keeping global average
temperatures from rising beyond an internationally agreed level of two degrees Celsius,
beyond which climate change would have serious impacts. Ms. Figueres stressed
that countries can still reverse these trends if they decide to act, since the knowledge,
technology and policy options needed to curb emissions are already available to them.
However, she emphasized that time is running out. “Expert analysis consistently
says that we do have the possibility to keep on track and that to act now is safer
and much less costly than to delay,” she said. “In the last three years, policy and
action towards a sustainable, clean energy future has been growing faster than ever.
But the door is closing fast because the pace and scale of action is simply not yet
enough. So Doha must deliver its part in the longer-term solution.” During a similar
gathering in the South African city of Durban last year, 194 UNFCCC parties agreed
on a package of decisions – known as the Durban Platform – which include the launch
of a protocol or legal instrument that would apply to all members, a second commitment
period for the Kyoto Protocol, and the launch of the Green Climate Fund, which was
created to help developing nations protect themselves from climate impacts and build
their own sustainable futures. The Doha gathering will seek to meet the objectives
set forth in another climate change meeting, held in Bali, and plan the work of the
Durban Platform. In addition, it will address other issues such as deforestation,
agriculture, and development and transfer of technology. Climate initiatives in developing
countries which have improved the lives of the urban poor will also be showcased at
the Conference, as well as other innovative approaches to find solutions for climate
change.