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Sealing the Deal:  Bonn

A look at developments unfolding at the pivotal round of negotiations toward sealing the deal on an agreement that would effectively address climate change in Bonn from
1-12 June.

The State of Negotiations -- As the second of five negotiations that will be held this year toward an agreement to be sealed in Copenhagen, the Bonn negotiations ended on a note of optimism tempered by a large dose of the reality that the bulk of the hard decisions lie ahead.

NGO's protesting announcements of intended greenhouse gas emissions cuts, which they say are insufficient to keep the Earth's temperature from rising.

UN Climate Change Convention Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said governments have made clearer what they want in the outcome in Copenhagen. Many delegations, including China, the U.S., the G-77 and the European Union, all acknowledged that the process of the negotiations had moved forward, but that there were still serious disagreements on many issues. Chief among the concerns are the nature of the greenhouse gas emission cuts that the richer countries have promised to make -- there is widespread criticism that the emission cuts would be too low in order to keep climate change in check.

The next round in the negotiations will take place in Bonn, followed by Bangkok in September, and Barcelona in November. Other key meetings that can influence the negotiation are the Major Economies Forum meeting and the G-8 meeting in Italy, the UN Climate Change Summit in New York and the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, both in September.

Prognosis for Copenhagen -- No one knows how Copenhagen will end. But there are many theories and many worries. Many believe that it will only be resolved at the very end of the Copenhagen meeting. Five countries -- Australia, Costa Rica, Japan, Tuvalu and the United States -- have presented proposals for a new protocol to the UN Climate Convention. But developing countries maintain that the Kyoto Protocol, which virtually all countries have signed -- except for the U.S. -- is still good international law and will remain so. India’s delegate made that clear yesterday when he said “we are not negotiating a new protocol.”

Seal the Deal -- The UN system-wide campaign to promote a successful outcome in Copenhagen has been prominent in Bonn.  Delegates and NGOs have been stamping “Seal the Deal” on a banner that, with other banners collected at events around the world, will be presented at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December. In addition, participants are being asked to sign an on-line petition calling for an effective climate deal at sealthedeal2009.org.

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Sealing the Deal:  Bonn

Time is of the essence -- Time is in short supply for the negotiations toward a new agreement that effectively tackles climate change. Delegates in the main hall where the line by line negotiations are taking place are constantly reminded of the amount of time until Copenhagen by a digital “Countdown clock” prominently positioned on the podium -- 180 days, 23, hours, 42 minutes and 25 seconds -- at a moment of time during the talks today. But that doesn’t reflect the fact that the total amount of negotiating time is now less than six weeks.

Billion tree campaign grows past 3 billion mark, says UN agency

30 March 2009 – The Billion Tree campaign to fight climate change through reforestation has now blossomed into a woodland of over 3 billion trees, the United Nations announced today. A new target of 7 billion trees has been set to be planted in time for the UN Climate Change Conference to be held in December 2009.

Major negotiations for new UN climate change pact kick off in Germany

29 March 2009 – More than 2,000 delegates from government, business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions, have gathered in Bonn, Germany, for the first of a series of three sessions aimed at producing a draft document to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. “This first negotiating session this year is critical for moving the world closer to a political solution to climate change,” said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Ban calls on world’s citizens to join UN in sending a message on climate change

27 March 2009 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged people everywhere to join the United Nations and millions of citizens around the world in sending a message to government leaders to protect the planet by switching off their lights for an hour tomorrow night.

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