UNITED NATIONS
NATIONS UNIES

FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE -- INTERIM SECRETARIAT
CONVENTION-CADRE SUR LES CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES -- SECRETARIAT PROVISOIRE

PRESS RELEASE

New talks to start on strengthening Climate Change Convention

Geneva, 18 August 1995 -- Parties to the Climate Change Convention are convening in Geneva on Monday, 21 August, to start work on new commitments for the year 2000 and beyond.

At the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-1) last March in Berlin, governments agreed that the Convention's present provisions relating to the commitment of developed countries to take measures aimed at returning their greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000 are not adequate.

The Berlin Mandate established a process to enable governments to take appropriate action for the period beyond 2000, including a strengthening of developed country commitments, through the adoption of a protocol or another legal instrument. It was agreed that work should be completed as early as possible so that the results can be adopted at COP-3 in 1997.

The COP therefore established an open-ended Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate (AGBM), which will meet for the first time from 21 to 25 August. Representatives from about 150 governments are expected to attend. At this session, the Group will focus on organizational matters such as electing officers and adopting the work programme for the next two years. The next sessions are scheduled for October 1995 and February 1996.

The following week will be taken up by the first sessions of the COP's two permanent subsidiary bodies. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) will meet from 28 - 30 August. The SBSTA will serve as the link between the information and assessments provided by expert sources on the one hand, and the policy-oriented needs of the COP on the other. Like the Ad Hoc Group, it will dedicate its first meeting to setting out a work programme through 1997.

The Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI) will meet from 31 August to 1 September. In addition to organizational matters, the SBI will consider a draft memorandum of understanding between the COP and the Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which is the operator of the Convention's financial mechanism. The SBI's role is to make recommendations on policy issues to the COP. If requested, both the SBI and the SBSTA may also provide inputs to the Ad Hoc Group on the Berlin Mandate.

One of the first substantive issues that the two subsidiary bodies will briefly address is the content of "national communications" from Annex I Parties (developed countries and countries with economies in transition). Under the Climate Change Convention, Parties must regularly inform each other about how they are meeting their treaty commitments. A review process has been put in place to check that the information provided is accurate and consistent.

The first round of in-depth reviews started in March of this year and should be completed before the second session of the Conference of the Parties (COP-2) in 1996. As of mid-August, review teams had visited eight countries -- Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, and the US. The SBSTA will focus on the scientific and technical aspects of these reviews, while the SBI will deal with the policy-related issues.

The chairmen of these three bodies, all members of the COP's bureau, are Raúl Estrada-Oyuela of Argentina (AGBM), Tibor Faragó of Hungary (SBSTA), and Mohamed M. Ould El Ghaouth of Mauritania (SBI).

A fourth body launched by the COP in Berlin, the Ad Hoc Group on Article 13, will not hold its first meeting until 30 October.

The negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change were inspired by growing scientific understanding of the links between humanity's greenhouse gas emissions and changes in how the atmosphere responds to the sun's radiation. The Convention was drafted in time to be signed by 154 governments plus the EC (now the EU) at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It entered into force on 21 March 1994, three months after the first 50 ratifications were received.

The first session of the Conference of the Parties was held in Berlin from 28 March to 7 April 1995. In addition to the Berlin Mandate, the COP decided to launch a pilot phase for "activities to be implemented jointly". This could allow, for example, one country to invest in an energy-efficiency project in another country. While the project would help to limit global greenhouse gas emissions, the investing country could not claim any kind of credit for the reduced emissions during the pilot phase.

The COP also adopted decisions putting in place the two basic pillars of the Convention: the process for reviewing how the Parties to the Convention are meeting their commitments, and a system for financial transfers to developing countries.

Note to journalists. The Ad Group on the Berlin Mandate will open at 3 p.m. on Monday, 21 August, in Room XIX. For more information, contact Michael Williams at 979 9242 (internal 78242), fax 797 3464, or e-mail Mwilliams@unep.ch.