13/05/2005 - Government
representatives of up to 189 countries are
meeting for an informal two-day seminar in
Bonn (16-17 May 2005) to assess past actions
to combat global warming and to begin discussing
what comes after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol's
first target period ends.
WWF says that the world needs to begin negotiating
future emission reductions beyond 2012 no
later then the next Conference of the Parties
(COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change, starting 28 November 2005 in Montreal,
Canada. This conference is also the first
Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Kyoto
Protocol since it came into force.
The Bonn seminar should lay the groundwork
for launching these negotiations under the
Kyoto Protocol.
"WWF is particularly looking to the
European Union for leadership and commitment
to the Kyoto Protocol," says Jennifer
Morgan, Director of the WWF Climate Change
Programme. "This includes setting a clear
path forward to launch negotiations in Montreal
in November this year under the Kyoto Protocol."
WWF sets three priorities for this process:
- As a baseline for future agreements, governments
should commit themselves to keep global average
warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
- Governments need to commit to making the
deep cuts in CO2 emissions needed to keep
the world below the 2 degree danger threshold.
- Future negotiation should take place under
the Kyoto Protocol because the Kyoto Parties
are the ones who have committed themselves
to international action against climate change.
Any deviation from the Kyoto Protocol would
result in throwing the international process
back as issues would have to be re-negotiated
which the Kyoto Protocol now regulates.
"Scientific findings are piling up showing
that the impacts of climate change are starting
to hit people and nature", says Jennifer
Morgan. "Governments must speed up their
decision making and commit to much more serious
emission cuts then the Kyoto Protocol offer
so far."
