GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | KOMMUNIKATION GLOBAL - 01 | 2009

COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN
"Governments have sent a strong political signal that despite the financial and economic
crisis, significant funds can be mobilised for both mitigation and adaptation in
developing countries with the help of a clever financial architecture and the institutions
to deliver the financial support." – UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer.
But sources at the secretariat of the UN framework
convention on climate change (UNFCCC) said the Poznan
gathering – 14th in the series of COPs since the global
treaty entered into force in March 1994 -- was "a milestone
on the road to success for the processes which
were launched under the Bali road map" in December
2007.
The meeting came midway between COP 13 in Bali,
which saw the launch of negotiations on strengthened
international action on climate change, and COP 15 next
year in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, at which the
negotiations are set to conclude.
Over 11,000 participants attended the Poznan conference,
which "both advanced international cooperation on
a future climate change regime and ensured progress on
key issues," a source at the UNFCCC secretariat said.
While playing down the significance of the North-South
showdown between the industrialised and developing or
emerging countries, conference president Nowicki said
the conference had concluded with "a clear commitment
from governments to shift into full negotiating mode
next year in order to shape an ambitious and effective
international response to climate change, to be agreed
in Copenhagen at the end of 2009."
Progress was made in the area of technology with the
endorsement of the Global Environment Facility's Poznan
Strategic Programme on Technology Transfer. The aim of
this programme is to scale up the level of investment by
levering private investments that developing countries
require both for mitigation and adaptation technologies,
he said.
"We will now move to the next level of negotiations,
which involves crafting a concrete negotiating text for
the agreed outcome," said Nowicki. Parties agreed that a
first draft of the text would be available at a UNFCCC
Poznań International Fair Ltd.
gathering in Bonn in June 2009.
"In addition to having agreed the work programme for
next year, we have cleared the decks of many technical issues," Nowicki said. "Poznan is the place where the partnership
between the developing and developed world to fight climate change has shifted beyond rhetoric and turned into real action,"
he said.
The success of the conference was also stressed by the UNFCCC secretariat. It said a key event at the conference was a
ministerial round table on a shared vision for long-term cooperative action on climate change.
"Governments have sent a strong political signal that despite the financial and economic crisis, significant funds can be
mobilised for both mitigation and adaptation in developing countries with the help of a clever financial architecture and the
institutions to deliver the financial support," said Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC executive secretary in a statement.
We now have a much clearer sense of where we need to go in designing an outcome which will spell out the commitments of
developed countries, the financial support required and the institutions that will deliver that support as part of the Copenhagen
outcome," he added. IPS | GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES �
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań on 13 December with a clear commitment from
governments to shift into full negotiating mode next year in order to shape an ambitious and effective international
response to climate change, to be agreed in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. Parties agreed that the
first draft of a concrete negotiating text would be available at a UNFCCC gathering in Bonn in June of 2009.
At Poznań, the finishing touches were put to the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund, with Parties agreeing
that the Fund would be a legal entity granting direct access to developing countries. Progress was also made
on a number of important ongoing issues that are particularly important for developing countries, including:
adaptation; finance; technology; reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD); and
disaster management. – UNFCCC Secretariat
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | JANUARY 2009 25