Fifth Conference of the Parties to the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Bonn, Germany; 25 October - 5 November 1999

"Humanity will not forgive us if we fail" - UNFCCC COP-5 President

With a warning that "humanity will not forgive us if we fail" President Jan Szyzsko of Poland brought the fifth Conference of the Parties to a close Friday. The Conference was marked by what the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Michael Zammit Cutajar, described as an "unexpected mood of optimism". He said the Parties now face their own 'Y2K challenge': namely the achievement of a successful COP-6 where Parties adopt key decisions mandated by the Buenos Aires Action Plan and move to early entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol.

Ministers and officials from 166 governments concluded two weeks of climate change negotiations that centered on enabling decisions and a timetable for completing the outstanding details of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol by COP-6 from 13-24 November 2000 in the Hague. A number of countries, echoing German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's call at the opening Plenary, are seeking early ratification, possibly by the tenth anniversary of the 'Earth Summit' (UNCED) in 2002. The NGO community played a key role in lobbying governments, at home and at the COP, to adopt the 2002 deadline. The Hague COP will be preceded by two one-week rounds of talks in the two subsidiary bodies, from 12-16 June and from 11-15 September. Each session will be preceded by one week of informal talks and workshops.

COP-5 defers decisions on Kazakhstan and Turkey

Small Island States deeply disappointed at deferral of COP's consideration of UNFCCC Article 4.2 (a) and (b) on adequacy of commitments

Our multimedia coverage of images and RealAudio from COP-5 includes presentations, interviews and pictures from the dozens of side events taking place alongside the negotiations. These are the panel discussions, presentations and expert inputs where many of the key issues of the negotiations are first rehearsed.

Linkages' Guide to COP-5, including links to background information and IISD's past coverage of the FCCC process.

NEW! Topic index from the High Level Segment
Linkages Climate page
UNFCCC Secretariat COP-5 web site (with official documents)
Archive of Climate-L
Linkages Journal
IISDnet
ENB COP-5 team page
 

Mon, 8 November
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