Peeling Back the COP: Part 1
Topic: Introduction and history of climate change
negotiations
Introduction
So, we have all
heard of climate change, and all that appertains to it. Climate change
mitigation and adaptation have become hot topics, and also one of the areas of
focus for AYICC. But then, this topic can be overwhelming at times, and this
was the case when I first set out to wrap my head around it. COP18 (18th
Conference of Parties) is just around the corner, and there are quite a number
of interesting issues that will be discussed.
Inspiration for this series
In looking for
material related to climate change negotiations, I noticed that much of it is
written for technocrats, making it “hostile” for beginners who are interested
in learning about the climate change negotiation process. Therefore, I took it
upon myself to come up with a series titled “Peeling Back the COP” (not related
in any way to a book that goes by a similar title) that is aimed at
demystifying the climate change negotiation process through short, snappy and
fun articles that will be published twice a week – from now until the start of
COP18 (end of November 2012).
Brief history of climate change negotiations
NB: I will try to keep this very simple, and where
necessary, I will provide useful links that you can use for further research.
So, how did the
climate change negotiation process start? In truth, it was the culmination of
previous studies, discussions and issues brought up over the years, and the year 1990 saw
major changes to the way this issue was perceived. During the UN General
Assembly session of 1990, there were some negotiations that were undertaken
with the aim of creating a formal body of addressing the issue of climate
change. One of the results of the negotiations was the formation of a body that
would come up with a convention that would deal with climate change; it was
called the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC).
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee
This committee
took fifteen months to come up with a convention for tackling climate change,
and it aptly named it the Climate Change Convention. This convention was then presented before the UN Commission on Environment and Development (UN CED) for signing in 1992 - this was the famous Earth Summit.
Conclusion
I know that I
promised to keep these posts short and fun (not yet there), so this marks the
end of part 1. In the second part of this series, we will explore the Climate Change Convention in detail, as it is the basis of the climate change
negotiation framework.
Note: If you are
interested in contributing to this series, please drop me an email (mbevakl@gmail.com) and I will be more than
glad to have you on board!
See you in part
2 (Tearing apart the Climate Change Convention)!
Useful resources
1. A brief history of UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention for Climate
Change): http://unfccc.int/cop7/issues/briefhistory.html
Compiled by:
Kennedy Liti Mbeva
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