16/02/2005 - Canada’s
invitation to host this year’s UN climate
negotiations is a welcome demonstration
of Canada’s resolve to tackle the threat
of climate change, WWF said today.
The 11th Conference of the Parties (COP
11) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change will be held from 28 November to
9 December, 2005, with 189 governments expected
to attend. This session is especially significant
as it will be the first Meeting of the Parties
to the Kyoto Protocol following the Protocol
entering into force today. A total of 141
Parties have ratified the treaty.
“Canada is willing to take international
leadership and move Kyoto forward,” says
Jennifer Morgan, Director of the WWF Climate
Change Programme. “Finally a North American
country is showing some leadership in tackling
climate change.”
Canada’s emissions of greenhouse gases
have increased rather than decreased since
the Kyoto Protocol was agreed in 1997. Its
much anticipated domestic climate change
plan should be revealed soon and hopefully
will ensure that the country meets its targets.
As chair of the UN climate conference,
Canada will be in a pivotal position to
broker the next generation of climate change
action. This means moving the ‘Kyoto Club’,
an unofficial name for the countries who
have ratified the Protocol, towards agreement
on more ambitious and binding targets after
the first period of the Kyoto Protocol ends
in 2012. The real task will be to ensure
negotiations progress in the face of unwilling
governments such as the ones of the US and
Australia.
This year’s meeting of the G8 Heads of
State in Scotland provides a stepping stone
to the COP11 and action on climate change.
The UK’s Prime Minister Tony Blair has put
climate change firmly on the agenda, as
one of two priorities, with an opportunity
for G8 governments to frame commitments
that will keep the rise of average world
temperature below the danger ceiling of
2° Celsius (3.6° Fahrenheit) above
pre-industrial times. This is the crucial
tipping point for the environment – crossing
it would have devastating impact for people
and wildlife.
