CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE OPENS IN KYOTO; AIM IS TO COMBAT GLOBAL WARMING PROCESS BEYOND YEAR 2000

1 December 1997

Press Release
ENV/DEV/453

CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE OPENS IN KYOTO; AIM IS TO COMBAT GLOBAL WARMING PROCESS BEYOND YEAR 2000

19971201 Officials, Optimistic of Outcome, Say `Crucial Opportunity' On Steps To Limit Greenhouse Gas Emissions Must Not Be Missed

KYOTO, JAPAN, 28 November (UNFCCC) -- The Kyoto climate change conference opened here today with a series of statements urging governments to move beyond long-standing negotiating positions and begin to take serious steps to reach an agreement.

The third session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was opened by the outgoing President of the previous session, Minister Chen Chimutengwende of Zimbabwe. The Director-General of the Environment Agency and State Minister of Japan, Hiroshi Ohki, was elected to succeed him.

In a statement after his election as President, Mr. Ohki called for a worldwide strategy to effectively address the problem of climate change. Such a strategy, he said, should be based on three principles -- developed countries should take the lead in committing themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels; developing countries should take action to address climate change problems in promoting their sustainable development, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities under the Convention and their respective capabilities; and thirdly, developed countries should strengthen their partnership with developing countries through the provision of financial and technological support for mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions.

While all climate change problems could not be solved in Kyoto, he added, the Conference could provide a decisive first step forward to promoting climate protection policies for the twenty-first century.

Keizo Obuchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, stressed the "crucial opportunity" offered by the Kyoto Conference to make a global decision on how far the world could limit greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming after the year 2000. An agreement must be reached on legally

- 2 - Press Release ENV/DEV/453 1 December 1997

binding reduction targets for developed countries, while developing countries should be asked to "make every effort which takes into account the future of the whole world".

Opening statements were also made by Teiichi Aramaki, Governor of the Prefecture of Kyoto, and Yorikane Masumoto, Mayor of Kyoto.

The Executive Secretary of the Climate Change Convention, Michael Zammit Cutajar, said the Conference should build bridges with those elements of the business community with a strategic vision to look far ahead, and also the confidence to grasp the opportunity offered by a change of course. He said he was convinced that a clear and persuasive signal from Kyoto would also trigger positive responses at the grass roots of civil society. It would encourage local governments to mobilize support for practical actions, while also responding to every citizen's desire for economic, social and environmental benefits here and now.

Much of the perceived pessimism about the Kyoto Conference, he went on, seemed to reflect negotiating tactics. He said he and many others were optimistic about the prospects for a successful conclusion of the Conference. He looked forward to a "clear, binding and verifiable commitment" by the industrialized nations, breaking the inertia of "business-as-usual" and triggering the development and diffusion of new practices, standards, technologies and consumption patterns to steer the world economy towards a sustainable future.

* *** *