Climate change in the UKOTs an overview of the ... - JNCC - Defra

oth adapt and mitigate.
“
”
Good climate policy aims to
the future, even though the costs are
immediate and local. Robust, early mitigation
will reduce the cost of adaptation over
the long term (Stern, 2007). Mitigation
refers to using policies and other interventions
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and improve the functioning of carbon and
greenhouse gas sinks. While adaptation
deals with ‘weathering’ current and future
impacts in the best possible way, the idea
behind mitigation is to go from present
levels of climate change impacts to
reduced levels in the future. The international
mechanism for doing this is the
United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC). This treaty
and its instruments aim to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, using 1990 as a
baseline year, in order to combat climate
change (see Box 10).
“Both…and”, not “either…or”
Good climate policy aims to both adapt
and mitigate. Adaptation is crucial
because even the most rigorous mitigation
measures taken today will not stave off the
negative effect of the warming already in
process. Unmitigated climate change at
the current rate will challenge the capacity
of man and nature to adapt.
Given the small contribution that UKOTs
make to greenhouse gas emissions and
the great extent to which they are affected
by global warming, the thrust towards
adaptation will be greater in UKOTs than
the adoption of mitigative strategies. Even
so, there is scope for them to promote and
adopt mitigation options that contribute to
the global effort, while advancing their
national development agendas.
Box 10. The international response to climate change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
(UNFCCC) was adopted in 1992 to provide a context for taking measures to stabilise
the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that would
minimise the human contribution to climate change. Its first mechanism was to set a
voluntary target for developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
levels by 2000. The UNFCC is a non-binding international treaty, but includes
provisions for obligatory procedures or protocols that commit signatories to action.
The first such agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, was adopted in 1997. It is linked to the
convention but stands on its own as a legally binding commitment to reduce
greenhouse gases by 2012 as a percentage of 1990 levels. Developed country
signatories have prescribed targets, while developing countries are encouraged to
introduce emission abatement measures.
Negotiations have begun on the agreement that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol. A
plan of action for reaching a new agreement once the Kyoto Protocol expires,
popularly known as the Bali Roadmap, has been developed. It sets out a process for
negotiations that must be completed by 2009 and which will result in a new set of
emissions targets. It also provides a framework for talks about adaptation, facilitating
the transfer of clean technologies to developing countries and reducing emissions
from deforestation.
Source: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (www.unfccc.int)
61