Conference navigate block
Conference navigate block
The latest round of United Nations climate change negotiations took place in Accra, Ghana, from 21-27 August. The Accra Climate Change Talks took forward work on a strengthened and effective international climate change deal under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as work on emission reduction rules and tools under the Kyoto Protocol. This is part of a negotiating process that will be concluded in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. Over 1600 participants attended the Accra meeting, which was the third major UNFCCC gathering this year.
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The venue for the sessions was the Accra International Conference Center (AICC). A limited number of side events and exhibits focused on the Accra Climate Talks took place. The Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) held its third session, while the Ad hoc Working Group on further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) finished the first part of its sixth session. AWG-LCA reports and submissions More on the issues under discussion... |
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Briefing the media on the final day of the Talks, Yvo de Boer gave an upbeat assessment of progress made: "We're still on track, the process has speeded up and governments are becoming very serious about negotiating a result in Copenhagen." The debate on the important topic of deforestation and forest conservation, he said, had resulted in countries expressing the clear desire for this issue to be part of a Copenhagen agreement. Further important discussions focused on ways of improving the clean development mechanism (CDM). Insufficient investment in Africa was cited as one of the CDM's shortcomings now being addressed. On the controversial issue of sectoral approaches, Mr. de Boer said that a constructive debate had made it clear that they were not about imposing targets on developing countries. The absolute highlight of the session, Mr. de Boer said, had been the mandate given by governments to the Chair of the working group on long-term cooperative action to compile proposals made so far and to be made in the coming weeks. The achievement of the Accra meeting had therefore been in "providing the basis for real negotiations to begin in Poznań." |
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At the opening press conference in Accra, the UN's top climate change official underlined the urgency for progress in the Talks on a strengthened international climate change agreement, to be concluded next year in Copenhagen. "Negotiations need to speed up and become more concrete if Governments are to meet the 2009 deadline they have set for themselves," he said. With the two negotiating groups under the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol continuing their work, Mr. de Boer said that "Accra needs to produce concrete proposals to be included in a draft text for Copenhagen," stressing that "time is short and the clock is clearly ticking." Mr. de Boer highlighted the importance of the venue for these Talks, given Africa's particular vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. African countries, he said, had the opportunity to make a real contribution to the design of a strengthened climate change deal based on their needs. |
