156 STATES PARTIES TO KYOTO PROTOCOL TO HOLD FIRST EVER HISTORIC MEETING AT UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE IN MONTREAL, 28 NOVEMBER – 9 DECEMBER

156 STATES PARTIES TO KYOTO PROTOCOL TO HOLD FIRST EVER HISTORIC MEETING

AT UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE IN MONTREAL , 28 NOVEMBER – 9 DECEMBER

Parties Expected to Adopt Decisions to Complete Protocol’s ‘Rule Book’

BONN, 23 November (UNFCCC) -- The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2005 will be held from 28 November to 9 December in Montreal, Canada.  It is expected to assemble between 8,000 and 10,000 participants, among them government delegates, business and civic leaders and environmental activists.  As such, it will be the largest such meeting since the Kyoto Climate Conference in 1997.

The high level of interest is not least due to the fact that the Conference is serving as the first ever meeting of the 156 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.  At the same time, it is serving as the 11th Conference of the 189 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Under the Kyoto Protocol, which took effect 16 February, 2005, more than 30 industrialized countries are bound by concrete and legally binding emission reduction targets during the period 2008-2012.  “This meeting will not only be one of the largest Climate Change Conferences ever, it will deliver a range of substantive results”, said Richard Kinley, acting head of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, parties to the Kyoto Protocol are expected to adopt a set of decisions critical to complete the “rule book” of the Protocol.

Parties are, for example, expected to agree on steps to strengthen the clean development mechanism, a tool designed under the Protocol to support sustainable development projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries.  The United Nations Climate Change Secretariat will be showcasing such projects at the Conference.

Montreal will also see the launch of a five-year work programme on adaptation.  “A certain degree of climate change is no longer avoidable”, said Halldor Thorgeirsson, coordinator of the Climate Change Secretariat’s Methods, Inventories & Science Programme.  “All countries need to adapt to the inevitable impacts.  Developing countries will be hardest hit by those impacts and need the necessary assistance.”

Another topic high on the agenda is technology, with a special focus on carbon capture and storage.  “Technology has to be at the centre of the global response to climate change.  This was the basis of the Kyoto Protocol and it will be fundamental to future cooperation”, Thorgeirsson pointed out.  “The challenge is getting existing technologies into the market, developing new ones and ensuring technologies are transferred to developing countries to promote their sustainable development.”

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, parties will also start to shape future steps to protect the world’s climate.  “The Montreal Climate Change Conference is starting to lay the foundation for future climate policy now that the Kyoto Protocol is in force and implementation is under way”, said the UNFCCC’s Kinley.

For further information, please contact:  John Hay (Head of communications and media, reachable from November 25) at +1 514 20 99 045; Axel Wuestenhagen (Media coordinator, responsible for technical issues and logistics) at +1 514 23 80 360; Alex Saier (Information officer) at + 1 514 20 99 291; and Carrie Assheuer (Press accreditation) at + 1 514 20 98 153.  See also http://unfccc.int.

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For information media • not an official record