|
News
Page
In This Issue...Links to the News:
March 11, 2016
UN agrees on new climate change
measures
Accra, Nov 20, GNA - Series of measures designed to help
developing countries adapt to the effects of global warming
would soon be put in place, thanks to an agreement reached
at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, which was
concluded in Nairobi Monday.
The Nairobi agreement would enhance decision-making on
adaptation action and would improve assessment capabilities
of vulnerability and related factors.
A UN release in Accra said: “Countries also agreed on the
management of the Adaptation Fund under the Kyoto Protocol
to support concrete activities in developing countries.
“The Conference has delivered on its promise to support the
needs of developing countries,” said Conference President,
Kenyan Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment
Kivutha Kibwana.
“The spirit of Nairobi has been truly remarkable. Let us now
use the momentum of this Conference to carry this spirit
forward and jointly undertake the kind of concerted action
we need for humankind to have a future on this planet”, he
said.
The countries also agreed on a plan to work toward future
commitments for industrialized countries to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions for post-2012 under the Kyoto
Protocol, which set legally binding emission reduction
targets for 35 industrialized countries during the 2008 to
2012 period.
“The 166 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol heard in Nairobi that
global emissions of greenhouse gases have to be reduced to
very low levels, well below half of levels in 2000, to avoid
dangerous climate change,” said Yvo de Boer, Executive
Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“The fact that Parties now have a concrete work plan means
that they can move ahead with addressing issues fundamental
for agreement on future commitments, such as the level of
emission reductions that is required and the ways in which
they can be achieved,” he said.
The conference was attended by some 6,000 participants,
among them more than 100 Ministers of State;
Secretary-General of the United Nations and two Heads of
State, and marked the first time that a climate change
convention was held in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Adaptation to climate change – the ability to respond to the
impacts of climate change, such as increased flooding,
droughts, sea-level rise or an increase – was a major focus
of the Conference, and the agreements it reached are
expected to facilitate and expedite projects in developing
countries.
The Adaptation Fund would draw on proceeds generated by the
clean development mechanism, which permits industrialized
countries, which have emission targets under the Kyoto
Protocol, to invest in sustainable development projects in
developing countries that reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
and thereby generate tradable emission credits.
Countries recognized, however, that considerable barriers
stand in the way of increased projects in many countries, in
particular in Africa.
To address this situation Secretary-General Busumuru Kofi
Annan announced the launch of the “Nairobi Framework”
through which several UN agencies would provide additional
support to developing countries to successfully develop
projects for the clean development mechanism.
The next round of negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol and
talks under the United Nations Climate Change Convention
would be held in Bonn, Germany in May 2007.
GNA
|
