Document Actions - Published:
20 Jan 2010 - The United Nations Climate
Change Conference held in Copenhagen ended
on Saturday, 19 December
2009. The main outcome of the conference
was a political agreement – known as the
Copenhagen Accord – to cap the global temperature
rise by committing to significant emission
reductions and to raise funds to help the
developing world address climate change.
The Copenhagen Accord:
recognises the objective
to keep the maximum global average temperature
rise below 2°C and the need for a review
in 2015 to consider a possible goal of a
maximum temperature rise of 1.5°C using
new scientific insights;
calls for listing economy-wide
emission reduction targets for developed
countries and mitigation action by developing
countries by 31 January 2010;
recognises the need
for enhanced action on adaptation to reduce
vulnerability and building resilience in
developing countries, especially least developed
countries, small island developing states
and Africa;
outlines the main elements
of developed countries' commitments for
new and additional funding for both adaptation
and mitigation in developing countries,
including a Fast Start programme (US$ 30
billion) for 2010–2012 and long-term finance
(US$ 100 billion annually by 2020). This
funding will come from a wide variety of
sources, public and private, bilateral and
multilateral;
stresses the importance
of establishing robust monitoring, reporting
and verification;
highlights the need
for setting up immediately mechanisms for
reducing emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation and other land use changes;
recognises the need
to step up action on the development and
transfer of technology.
The challenge will now be to turn this political
agreement into an effective and legally
binding agreement by COP16 in Mexico
(29 November-10 December 2010).
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Biodiversity is life.
Biodiversity is our life
Document Actions - Published:
11 Jan 2010 - To celebrate the launch of
the International Year of Biodiversity on
11 January, the European Environment Agency
(EEA) is commencing a series of concise,
thematic assessments of biodiversity. The
first of these '10 messages for 2010' presents
the interaction between climate change and
biodiversity.
Biodiversity embraces
the variety of genes, species and ecosystems
that constitute life on Earth. Despite a
global pledge to reduce the rate of biodiversity
loss significantly by 2010 and a European
commitment to halt it altogether, the steady
decline continues. The consequences for
the natural world and for human wellbeing
are profound. In coming months, therefore,
the EU and the rest of the international
community will be striving to identify a
post-2010 policy framework to be agreed
in Nagoya, Japan, in October.
Much has changed in
our understanding of biodiversity since
the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and Europe’s
commitment in 2001. The more we understand
the complex interdependence of species and
habitats and its importance, the greater
is the urgency to act.
'We know that market
prices need to reflect the full value of
the benefits that we obtain from healthy
ecosystems as well as the true costs of
using them. This means that we need to understand
the role of biodiversity in sustaining ecosystems
and the policies that are effective in conserving
and protecting different habitats and species
from local to global levels,' said Professor
Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of
EEA.
The EEA's '10 messages
for 2010' will highlight one theme per month
until the tenth meeting of the Conference
of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
in October. The first message on climate
change and biodiversity will be followed
by others on themes such as protected areas
and the marine environment.
