GENERAL
FCCC/AGBM/1996/9
4 November 1996
Original: ENGLISH
AD HOC GROUP ON THE BERLIN MANDATE
Fifth session
Geneva, 9-13 December 1996
Item 1 (a) of the provisional agenda
1. Arrangements have been made for the fifth session of the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM) to be held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, from
9 to 13 December 1996. The session will be opened by the Chairman
at 10 a.m. on Monday, 9 December 1996, in conference room XIX. The
afternoon of Monday, 9 December will be dedicated to an informal
round table on the proposals submitted by Parties.
2. The AGBM, at its fourth session, concluded that valuable
progress had been made over the past year but that "much work still
needed to be done and the AGBM must now intensify its efforts to
complete a new legal instrument in time for adoption by the
Conference of the Parties at its third session (COP 3)". It was
further concluded that the analysis and assessment process should
continue but that "the emphasis of the work of the AGBM must now move
progressively towards negotiation, as mandated by decision 1/CP.1"
(FCCC/AGBM/1996/8/paras. 35-36).
3. The Conference of the Parties at its second session (COP 2)
took note of the Geneva Ministerial Declaration which commanded a
very wide consensus among ministers and other heads of delegation
attending the Conference but gave rise to some concern or
difficulties
GE.96-
for some delegations. (For the text of the Declaration, see the
annex to FCCC/CP/1996/15/Add.1; for the proceedings of the
Conference, see FCCC/CP/1996/15, para. 40; for the views expressed by
delegations, see FCCC/CP/1996/15, annex IV.) The Ministers and other
heads of delegations, through the Declaration, expressed the view
that the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) "should provide a scientific basis for urgently
strengthening action at the global, regional and national levels,
particularly action by Annex I Parties to limit and reduce emissions
of greenhouse gases, and for all Parties to support the development
of a Protocol or another legal instrument." Furthermore they
"call[ed] on all Parties to come forward with proposals to facilitate
substantive negotiations beginning at the fifth session of the AGBM."
In addition, they "instruct[ed] their representatives to accelerate
negotiations on the text of a legally-binding protocol or another
legal instrument to be completed in due time for adoption at [COP 3].
The outcome should fully encompass the remit of the Berlin Mandate."
Specific elements of the Declaration that are relevant to provisional
agenda items are found in paragraphs 8 and 10 of the
Declaration.
4. The provisional agenda for the fifth session of the AGBM,
proposed after consultation with the Chairman, is as
follows:
1. Opening of the session.
2. Organizational matters:
(a) Adoption of the agenda;
(b) Organization of the work of the session;
(c) Organization of the work of future sessions.
3. Strengthening the commitments in Article 4.2(a) and
(b):
(a) Policies and measures;
(b) Quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives within
specified time-frames.
4. Continuing to advance the implementation of existing
commitments in Article 4.1.
5. Possible features of a protocol or another legal
instrument.
6. Report on the session.
5. The fifth session of the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate
(AGBM) will be opened by the Chairman at 10 a.m. on Monday, 9
December 1996 in conference room XIX.
(a) Adoption of the agenda
6. The provisional agenda for the fifth session of the AGBM is
presented for adoption (see para. 4 above).
(b) Organization of the work of the
session
(i) Documentation
7. A list of documents relating to the provisional agenda, as well
as other documents available at the session, is contained in annex I
below.
8. In accordance with the conclusions of the AGBM at its fourth
session (see FCCC/AGBM/1996/8, paras. 37-38), the main documents for
the session will consist of the proposals submitted by Parties
prior to COP 2 (FCCC/1996/AGBM/MISC.2 and Add.1) and any submitted
prior to 15 October 1996 (FCCC/1996/AGBM/MISC.2/Add.2) as well as the
synthesis of these proposals prepared by the Chairman
(FCCC/AGBM/1996/10).
(ii) Schedule
9. The scheduling of meetings for the session will be based on the
availability of facilities during normal working hours, when services
are available for one meeting with interpretation from 10 a.m. to 1
p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be some facilities for
informal meetings without interpretation. Delegations are urged to
use these facilities fully by starting all meetings promptly at the
scheduled time. A suggested approach to the organization of work is
contained in annex II below.
10. The afternoon of Monday, 9 December has been set aside for an
informal round table discussion of the proposals submitted by Parties
(FCCC/AGBM/1996/MISC.2/and Add.1 and 2), with an emphasis on those
received since the fourth session of the AGBM. Submitting Parties
will have the opportunity to present and discuss their proposals,
followed by comments, questions and discussions.
11. An informal consultation will be convened by the Chairman on
the margins of the session to discuss the question of the impacts on
developing countries of new commitments by Annex I Parties to limit
and reduce emissions and to consider what analysis and assessment is
necessary in this regard.
(c) Organization of the work of future
sessions
12. It may be useful to look ahead to the programme and structure
of the work of future sessions of the AGBM in the light of the
conclusions reached at the fifth session and the limited time that
remains before COP 3. The Chairman will provide an oral report on the
decisions of the Bureau of the COP relating to the schedule of
meetings under the Convention in 1997.
13. The AGBM may also wish to consider the timetable for the
preparation and consideration of a negotiating text.
14. This item will provide an opportunity to take stock of the
magnitude of the overall package of requests to the secretariat and
other bodies to confirm that it can be delivered in the short time
before the sixth session (3-7 March 1996). In view of this time
constraint, the secretariat considers that it would be able to
prepare, in addition to the provisional agenda and annotations, at
most, one substantive document for the sixth session.
(a) Policies and measures
15. In addition to the documents mentioned in annex I below, the
AGBM is expected to have before it a technical paper on policies and
measures from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. An oral
progress report from the Chairman of the Annex I Experts Group on the
UNFCCC is also anticipated.
16. Further to its discussions at the fourth session, the AGBM may
wish to concentrate its efforts on further defining the approach to
the elaboration of policies and measures that will characterize the
protocol or another instrument to be adopted at COP 3. Two general
approaches have been identified to date - a menu of options approach
and a mandatory policies and measures approach (see FCCC/AGBM/1996/8,
para. 16). In this context, issues such as the breadth of any menu,
the degree of compulsion to implement particular policies and
measures, possible methods for categorizing policies and measures,
harmonization or coordination of policies and measures, priority
policies and measures, and review and/or coordination mechanisms
could be addressed.
(b) Quantified emission limitation and reduction
objectives
17. In resuming its consideration of this sub-item, the AGBM may
wish to address the issues regarding QELROs identified in the report
of the last session (FCCC/AGBM/1996/8, para. 18):
(a) The levels of emissions reductions, and criteria for their
choice;
(b) Whether QELROs should be legally binding or not;
(c) Whether multi-Party or single-Party obligations should be
pursued;
(d) What should be the base and target years;
(e) The socio-economic and environmental costs and benefits for
all Parties, including developing country Parties; and
(f) The effect on atmospheric greenhouse gas
concentrations.
18. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice
(SBSTA), at its third session, invited the AGBM, should it deem fit,
to consider the implications of methodological issues, such as those
considered in documents FCCC/SBSTA/1996/9 and Add. 1 and 2 (for
example, emissions from bunkers, electricity trading, land-use change
emissions, temperature adjustments).
19. The AGBM, at its fourth session, deferred consideration of
this item until the fifth session. The Group may wish to focus on
what new actions, if any, are necessary and what would be the
modalities surrounding them, especially in terms of how they would be
reflected in the protocol or another legal instrument to be adopted
at COP 3.
20. The AGBM, at its third and fourth sessions, held productive
discussions of the possible features of a protocol or another legal
instrument, including institutional questions. Until the nature of
the final commitments becomes clearer, it may be difficult to take
the discussion of possible features of a protocol or another legal
instrument much further, especially with regard to institutions.
Nevertheless, there are a number of questions about the features of
the agreement that the AGBM may wish to address that relate directly
to the commitments and which may not be taken up under other agenda
items. These include:
(a) Issues pertaining to the structure of the commitments,
including the role of annexes;
(b) The design of any process for the communication and review of
information, including the review of implementation, bearing in mind
the earlier support by the AGBM for a single process for the
communication and review of information (see FCCC/AGBM/1996/8, para.
28);
(c) The need for, and nature of, any compliance procedure or
mechanism as well as any linkage with Article 13 of the Convention
and the work of the Ad Hoc Group on Article 13 (see
FCCC/CP/1996/15/Add.1, decision 5/CP.2);
(d) The nature of any mechanism to review the commitments over
time; and
(e) The threshold for entry into force.
21. The relatively short length of the session, as well as the
nature and timing of the discussion, may affect the extent to which a
draft text of the report on the work of the session could be
available at the end of the session. The AGBM may wish to adopt
decisions or texts of substantive conclusions under the relevant
items and sub-items of the agenda and, as at the first session,
authorize the Rapporteur to complete the report after the session,
under the guidance of the Chairman and with the assistance of the
secretariat. While every effort will be made to have conclusions
available in all languages, this can only be possible if sufficient
time is available for translation.
FCCC/AGBM/1996/9 Provisional agenda and annotations
FCCC/AGBM/1996/10 Synthesis of proposals: note by the
Chairman
FCCC/AGBM/1996/MISC.2/Add.2 Implementation of the Berlin Mandate:
proposals from Parties.
FCCC/AGBM/1996/8 Report of the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate
on the work of its fourth session, held at Geneva from 11-16 July
1996
FCCC/CP/1996/15 Report of the Conference of the Parties on its
and Add.1 second session, held at Geneva from 8-19 July
1996
FCCC/AGBM/1996/MISC.2 Implementation of the Berlin Mandate:
and Add.1 proposals from Parties
All AGBM documents as well as the Second Assessment Report of the
IPCC and the second compilation and synthesis of national
communications from Annex I Parties will be available for reference
purposes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Items 1 2 (a) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Round table on proposalsby Parties |
|
|
|
|
Items from the provisional agenda:
1. Opening of the session.
2. Organizational matters:
(a) Adoption of the agenda;
(b) Organization of the work of the session;
(c) Organization of the work of future sessions.
3. Strengthening the commitments in Article 4.2(a) and
(b):
(a) Policies and measures;
(b) Quantified emission limitation and reduction objectives within
specified time-frames.
4. Continuing to advance the implementation of existing
commitments in Article 4.1.
5. Possible features of a protocol or another legal
instrument.
6. Report on the session.