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Progress on climate change negotiations, geared towards December’s summit in Copenhagen where a new agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions is to be negotiated to replace the Kyoto Protocol, has been mixed at the latest round of talks, according to a top United Nations official.
Some 4,000 people – including government delegates from 177 countries and representatives from the private sector and environmental organizations – are in Bangkok, Thailand, for a two-week penultimate round of negotiations, which kicked off on Monday, ahead of the meeting in the Danish capital.
Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said that he found it encouraging that strides have been made in key areas, including adaptation, technology and building developing nations’ capacity to deal with global warming.
In a positive development, he said that negotiators are finally getting into the text and starting to shorten the lengthy document.
However, Mr de Boer said that he is disappointed by the lack of progress made by industrialised nations towards curbing their emissions, as well as by progress on financing.
The Bangkok talks come on the heels of last week’s high-level summit, the largest ever on climate change, convened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at UN Headquarters in New York.
That event drew some 100 heads of State and government who issued a call for a comprehensive pact to be reached in Copenhagen. The leaders also underscored the need to boost action to help the world’s most vulnerable and poorest adapt to global warming, as well as the importance of industrialised countries agreeing on ambitious emissions reduction targets.
“Your words have been heard around the world. Let your actions now be seen. There is little time left. The opportunity and responsibility to avoid catastrophic climate change is in your hands,” Mr. Ban said at the end of the New York summit.
The last round of negotiations before the Copenhagen conference will take place in Barcelona, Spain, in November.
Mr Ban expressed some hope in an address to the University of Copenhagen, saying the frozen positions preventing governments from making progress in negotiations for a new greenhouse gas emissions treaty are beginning to thaw.
Mr Ban highlighted the success of the largest climate change summit in history, held at the United Nations last week and attended by 101 heads of State and government.
He said climate change, and the imperative to reach agreement at Copenhagen, is now at the top of the international agenda where it belongs.
Mr Ban said that the summit helped “turn up the heat” on world leaders and focus their attention on the urgent need for action, especially on finalising a deal on global greenhouse gas emissions when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
“Leaders voiced broad support for setting a long-term goal to limit global temperature increase to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius,” said Mr Ban. “World leaders acknowledged the scientific imperative to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.”
He said that most importantly, they all recognised that a deal in Copenhagen was possible and showed a keen willingness to achieve the goal.
Underscoring the importance of financing for climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, Mr Ban said that many leaders rallied around a proposal for providing US$100 billion per year over the next decade.
Mr Ban said that last month’s summit at the UN laid a solid foundation for this effort when world leaders unanimously called for a deal.
“Tackling climate change can set us on the road to peace and prosperity for all, but half-measures or business-as-usual will set the stage for catastrophe,” he warned.
