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Sixteenth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol
22-26 November, 2004 | Prague,
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| Earth Negotiations
Bulletin -
ENB |
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Highlights from Friday, 26 November
10:48 pm, Friday 26 November 2004
MOP-16 COMPLETES ITS WORK; SCHEDULES A SECOND EXTRAORDINARY MEETING
Following lengthy negotiations on issues such as methyl bromide and exemptions to allow CFCs for metered-dose inhalers, Parties at MOP-16 finally concluded their work late Friday night, resolving all outstanding decisions. However, for only the second time in its history—and the second time in the last year—Parties felt compelled to hold an additional “extraordinary MOP.” This meeting is expected to take place in Montreal, Canada in July 2005, at the same time as the Open-ended Working Group.The final day included last minute informal consultations, the end of the preparatory segment, and a closing plenary on Friday night that adopted the report of the meeting, including 47 decisions (which can be found in documents: UNEP/OzL.Pro.16/L.1 and L.1/Adds.1-3). Photo: MOP-16 Persident Alan Flores, Tamara Curll, Secretariat, Ozone Executive Secretary Marco Gonzalez, and Gilbert Bankobeza, Secretariat
The ENB Summary Report of MOP-16 will be available on Sunday, 28 November |
| High-level Segment |
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Ozone Executive Secretary Marco Gonzalez (left) and with MOP-16 President Alan Flores and Preparatory Segment Co-Chair Janusz Kozakiewicz. |
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Regarding the issue of methyl bromide, Ambassador Affonso Massot, Brazil (left),
said that however important it might be to set guidelines, the best approach is a consistent and ongoing reduction in methyl bromide.
Pieter van Geel, Dutch Environment Minister, speaking for the EU (right), expressed concern over the large amount of critical use nominations requested for methyl bromide. He called for a significant decrease in methyl bromide, and also expressed concern at the increasing amount of methyl bromide for quarantine and pre-shipment uses. He urged the use of heat treatment as an alternative to methyl bromide in this regard.
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Regarding methyl bromide, the Philippines said it had addressed the issue of potential non-compliance on methyl bromide.
Claudia McMurray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, US Department of State, said that her country's request for 2006 request for methyl bromide critical use exemptions equates to just 1.5% of its use of ODS in 1989, adding that this final small amount is naturally the hardest to phase out. She suggested that the MBTOC's recommendations had not been based purely on technical and scientific considerations, and seemed somewhat arbitrary. She supported the current process to provide MBTOC with guidance on how to conduct its work. She argued that innovative approaches should be explored, such as providing methyl bromide credits in return for destruction of excess halons.
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Regarding
Education, Training, and Public Awareness, Mozambique (left) highlighted its work on institutional strengthening, including raising awareness of key stakeholders, and the Republic of Korea (center) proposed holding information exchange workshops in tandem with MOPs or OEWG meetings, and using information and communication technologies.
Tahir Iqbal, Federal Minister for Environment, Pakistan, forwarded an offer by Pakistan to host a future MOP. |
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Regarding domestic measures, Rwanda (left) reflected, during the High-Level Segment, on its experience as a country that has only recently joined the Protocol, and Preparatory Segment Co-Chair Janusz Kozakiewicz speaks with MOP President Alan Flores and Executive Secretary Gonzalez (right) |
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Preparatory Segment |
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Blaise Horisberger, Chair of the critical use nominations contact group (left) and with Preparatory Segment Co-Chair Janusz Kozakiewicz, and John Thomson, US |
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| ENB writer Paula Barrios speaks with John Thomson, US, and Blaise Horisberger, Switzerland (left) and Manfred Schneider, Austria, speaks with the Japanese delegation
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During the evening session of the Preparatory Segment, Jean Louis Wallace, Canada, chair of the Sub-Committee on financial matters, presented the draft decision on financial reports and budgets. He noted that the only bracketed text was the proposal by Argentina to allow some flexibility in the application of the UN scale of assessments. He explained that this issue had arisen in recent budget discussions of other MEAs but the EC strongly opposed its adoption. Regarding the budget decision, Marcia Levaggi, Argentina, insisted on including language recognizing the serious economic difficulties experienced by some Parties and allowing for flexibility in the application of the UN scale of assessments. |
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Jiri Hlavacek, Czech Republic (left), introduced draft text for a “Prague Declaration” supporting collaborative efforts with other multilateral chemicals-related instruments. He explained that the text sought to build on discussions about the need for greater cooperation between these multilateral environmental agreements, and that at least 60 Parties had expressed an interest in signing it. Argentina and Mexico expressed concern that they had not had time to consider the text. The US noted the Montreal Protocol's tradition of noting declarations that do not have to be adopted by all Parties, but that could be signed by those that agreed with it. Parties agreed to this suggestion.
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| MOP-16 President Alan Flores, Deputy Executive Secretary Michael Graber and Executive Secretary Marco Gonzalez (left) ; Paul Horwitz, US, raises his flag to take the floor during the Closing Plenary |
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| Photos from around the Conference |
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UNEP Executive Director Klaus Topfer during a press conference
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ENB writers hard at work (left to right): Amber Moreen, Chris Spence, Alice Bisiaux, Catherine Ganzleben and Paula Barrios |
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| Concert and reception hosted by the Czech Government at the Municipal House of Prague |
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