HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

The parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are expected to finalize the procedures and institutions needed to make the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change fully operational at their seventh session at Marrakesh, Morocco, from 29 October to 9 November, it was announced at a press briefing here this morning.

The Conference of the Parties will take place “despite suggestions that it should not”, the Executive Secretary of the Convention, Michael Zammit Cutajar, told correspondents.  He complimented the Government of Morocco in abiding by its commitment to host the Conference.  It would be an occasion for the Climate Change process “to seal the package of decisions” agreed to by ministers and senior officials at their meeting in Bonn last July.

The Parties to the Convention agreed at a conference –- their third session -- in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by harnessing the forces of the global market place.  It was open for signature at United Nations Headquarters from 16 March 1998 to 15 March 1999.

The Marrakesh Conference -– the first to be held in Africa -- would also provide an opportunity for a look at the African dimension of the climate change problem, and for coordinated and coherent action on the region’s climate biodiversity and desertification problems.

The Bonn agreements covered all aspects of the climate change agenda, and resolved most of the crunch questions under the Protocol, Mr. Cutajar said.  They also gave a boost to efforts under the Convention to provide financial and technological support to developing countries to deal with climate change.

According to a release circulated at the press briefing, some other principles agreed to at Bonn covered credits developed countries could receive towards their Kyoto emissions targets for carbon dioxide.  Individual country quotas had been set.

Another decision was that the use of the Protocol’s three flexible mechanisms should be supplemental to domestic action, which would constitute a significant element of the effort made by each Party.

The texts of the main protocol questions were still on the table and they would be “the meat of the agenda” at Marrakesh, Mr. Cutajar said.  He was optimistic about “a good result” from the Conference.  He said the political will was there.  Once that package was “signed and sealed” it would go back to the Governments for their decision on ratification.

The Kyoto Protocol would enter into force and become legally binding after it had been ratified by at least 55 Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, including industrialized countries accounting for at least 55 per cent of the total 1990 carbon dioxide emissions from the group.  So far 40 countries had ratified the Protocol, including one industrialized country (Romania).

He said there was a strong political signal from the European Union that its 15 member States intended “to ratify once Marrakesh is done”.  It was expected that the Russian Federation “which holds the key”, and Iceland, Japan, Australia and Canada would follow.

The United States -- a party to the Convention -- had withdrawn from discussions on the Protocol and was not expected to attend the Marrakesh session, Mr. Cutajar said.  “The United States obviously has other priorities at the moment.”  The engagement of the parties in a truly global approach would be at the top of the agenda once the Marrakesh package was tied up, he said.

Among issues to be discussed were procedures and mechanisms relating to compliance under the Protocol, he told a questioner.  There was a dispute about whether the compliance regime was legally binding or enforceable, he added.

He told another questioner that the issue was an important one of principle with some countries, such as the Russian Federation and Japan.  He was certain that it would be resolved.

He also said in response to a question that the Kyoto Protocol could not be amended until it entered into force.  The Protocol was a broad statement that left a lot to be worked out.  Those details flowed from the instrument itself.

Was the Marrakesh session the last for a wrap-up of those procedural issues, he was asked.  He replied that he hoped it would be, since it would be his last.  The writing of the rules governing climate change would end in Marrakesh.

In response to a question, he said the United States could change its mind and ratify the Protocol.  It would then be faced with compliance with the target written into the protocol.  That could be changed if the United States joined now.  There was no retroactive element in the system.  The rules were being delineated now, he said.

Asked to elaborate the “arithmetic of ratification”, he said that the magic figure was 55.  The numbers would not be a problem:  40 countries had ratified, and the European Union with its 15 member States had promised to do so.  That would bring the number to the required 55.  The real difficulty would be getting more industrialized countries representing at least 55 per cent of the total 1990 carbon dioxide emissions.

The target 55 per cent of 1990 carbon dioxide emissions annexed to the protocol were as follows:  the United States accounted for 36.1 per cent in carbon dioxide emissions of industrialized countries in 1990.  It represented 25 per cent of global emissions; the European Union collectively was 24.2 per cent.  If the other candidate countries favourable to the European Union line, such as Switzerland, even New Zealand, Norway, Iceland, 8.2 per cent; Russian Federation, 14.4 per cent; Japan, 8.5 per cent; Australia, 5.4 per cent.  If Russia stayed out, the protocol would not enter into force.

Asked what his view of the Russian position was, he said they were negotiating very hard for the best possible terms.  They had an economic interest in joining.

The Marrakesh Conference is expected to make an input to the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg in September 2002.

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