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To
Bonn and Back Again – UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies Convene in
Bonn
The tenth
sessions of the UNFCCC subsidiary bodies commence at the Maritim
Hotel in Bonn Monday afternoon, 31 May. Negotiators return
to Bonn in October for the fifth Conference of the Parties
(COP-5, 25 October – 5 November).
The
tenth session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological
Advice will open at 3 p.m. The tenth session of the Subsidiary
Body for Implementation will begin at 4 p.m. The subsidiary
bodies are expected to meet in joint session on Tuesday morning
when they will convene a joint working group on procedures
and mechanisms for compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, which
was established at COP-4 in Buenos Aires. The joint working
group is expected to meet for the first time Wednesday afternoon.
Compliance issues and how they are to be addressed are expected
to be among the most hotly contested issues in Bonn. Tuesday's
joint session of the SBI and SBSTA will also begin further
consideration to the pilot phase of the Activities Implemented
Jointly and the Kyoto Mechanisms.
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The
Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Michael Zammit Cutajar, will point
out to delegations that the deadlines set by the Buenos Aires Action Plan
compel the negotiators to reach a number of decisions. The two year Action
Plan establishes deadlines for finalizing the outstanding details of the
Kyoto Protocol so that the agreement will be fully operational when it
enters into force sometime after the year 2000. The plan also addresses
work on compliance issues and on policies and measures, boosts work on
transferring climate-friendly technologies to developing countries, and
pays special consideration to the needs and concerns of countries affected
by global warming and by the economic implications of response measures.
A
Bubble Scorned
Pre-negotiation
signals traveled back and forth across the Atlantic this month after European
Union (EU) governments finalized agreement on a common position on the
Kyoto Mechanisms. They agreed a complex formula guaranteeing that at least
half of the EU's greenhouse gas emissions reductions commitment (8 % reduction
from 1990 levels) will come from domestic measures. The United States's
Frank Loy, the undersecretary for global affairs at the State Department,
immediately questioned the EU's motives for the decision given that the
EU's member states will have unlimited trading among themselves within
the Union's "Bubble" arrangements. The US continues to seize
on the EU's internal burden sharing arrangements as a means of undermining
the credibility of the EU's calls for strict capping arrangements under
the Kyoto Protocol.
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highlights |
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The
empty Bethoven Hall awaits the arrival of delegates
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