(Cancun, 11 December
2010) The UN Climate Change Conference in
Cancun, Mexico, ended on Saturday with the
adoption of a balanced package of decisions
that set all governments more firmly on
the path towards a low-emissions future
and support enhanced action on climate change
in the developing world.
The package, dubbed
the 'Cancun Agreements' was welcomed to
repeated loud and prolonged applause and
acclaim by Parties in the final plenary.
"Cancun has done
its job. The beacon of hope has been reignited
and faith in the multilateral climate change
process to deliver results has been restored,"
said UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana
Figueres. "Nations have shown they
can work together under a common roof, to
reach consensus on a common cause. They
have shown that consensus in a transparent
and inclusive process can create opportunity
for all," she said.
"Governments have
given a clear signal that they are headed
towards a low-emissions future together,
they have agreed to be accountable to each
other for the actions they take to get there,
and they have set it out in a way which
encourages countries to be more ambitious
over time," she said.
Nations launched a set
of initiatives and institutions to protect
the poor and the vulnerable from climate
change and to deploy the money and technology
that developing countries need to plan and
build their own sustainable futures. And
they agreed to launch concrete action to
preserve forests in developing nations,
which will increase going forward.
They also agreed that
countries need to work to stay below a two
degree temperature rise and they set a clear
timetable for review, to ensure that global
action is adequate to meet the emerging
reality of climate change.
"This is not the
end, but it is a new beginning. It is not
what is ultimately required but it is the
essential foundation on which to build greater,
collective ambition," said Ms Figueres.
Elements of the Cancun
Agreements include:
Industrialised country
targets are officially recognised under
the multilateral process and these countries
are to develop low-carbon development plans
and strategies and assess how best to meet
them, including through market mechanisms,
and to report their inventories annually.
Developing country actions
to reduce emissions are officially recognised
under the multilateral process. A registry
is to be set up to record and match developing
country mitigation actions to finance and
technology support from by industrialised
countries. Developing countries are to publish
progress reports every two years.
Parties meeting under
the the Kyoto Protocol agree to continue
negotiations with the aim of completing
their work and ensuring there is no gap
between the first and second commitment
periods of the treaty.
The Kyoto Protocol's
Clean Development Mechanisms has been strengthened
to drive more major investments and technology
into environmentally sound and sustainable
emission reduction projects in the developing
world.
Parties launched a set
of initiatives and institutions to protect
the vulnerable from climate change and to
deploy the money and technology that developing
countries need to plan and build their own
sustainable futures.
A total of US$30 billion
in fast start finance from industrialised
countries to support climate action in the
developing world up to 2012 and the intention
to raise US$100 billion in long-term funds
by 2020 is included in the decisions.
In the field of climate
finance, a process to design a Green Climate
Fund under the Conference of the Parties,
with a board with equal representation from
developed and developing countries, is established.
A new "Cancun Adaptation
Framework" is established to allow
better planning and implementation of adaptation
projects in developing countries through
increased financial and technical support,
including a clear process for continuing
work on loss and damage.
Governments agree to
boost action to curb emissions from deforestation
and forest degradation in developing countries
with technological and financial support.
Parties have established
a technology mechanism with a Technology
Executive Committee and Climate Technology
Centre and Network to increase technology
cooperation to support action on adaptation
and mitigation.
The next Conference
of the Parties is scheduled to take place
in South Africa, from 28 November to 9 December
2011.
