Working Together
Saving Tomorrow Today
28 November – 9 December 2011 Durban – South Africa
The eyes and ears of the world turn towards Durban, South Africa, for COP17 / CMP7. The world’s delegates have been invited to attend the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol.
What is COP?
Since the advent of the UNFCC in 1995, the Conference of the Parties (COP) has been meeting annually to assess progress in dealing with climate change.
- The COP adopts decisions and resolutions. Successive decisions taken by the COP constitute a detailed set of rules for practical and effective implementation of the Convention.
What is CMP?
The COP serves as the meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol. This annual meeting is referred to as the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP).
- Parties to the Convention that are not Parties to the Protocol are able to participate in the CMP as observers, without the right to take decisions.
COP / CMP Presidency
The office of the Conference President rotates annually between the five United Nations (UN) regional groups. The African Group will be the next proud host of the Conference with COP 17 / CMP 7 taking place in Durban later this year. The President of COP 17 / CMP 7 is Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, the South African Minister of Internal Relations and Cooperation. This is indeed a great honour for our nation as a whole as well as for the entire continent.
UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)
In 1992, the UNFCC set an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to address climate change. It is called a framework convention because it is seen as a starting point of addressing the problem of climate change. The Convention entered into force on 21 March 1994.
The ultimate objective of the Convention is “to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system”.
What is the Kyoto Protocol?
The Kyoto Protocol is an accord linked to the UNFCC. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These amount to an average of 5 percent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008 – 2012.
The major difference between the Protocol and the Convention is that while the Convention encouraged industrialised countries to stabilise GHG emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.
The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan on the 11th of December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005.
The road ahead
The Kyoto Protocol is generally seen as an important first step towards a truly global emission reduction regime that will stabilise GHG emissions, and provides the essential architecture for any future international agreement on climate change.
By the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, a new international framework needs to have been negotiated and ratified that can deliver the stringent emission reductions the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly indicated are needed.
How is South Africa responding to Climate Change?
The government of South Africa regards climate change as a major threat to sustainable development. Government believes that climate change has the potential to undermine the positive advances made in meeting SA’s own development goals and the Millenium Development Goals. Government is committed to address climate change and has published a White Paper on the National Climate Change Response.
South Africa’s determination to succeed in its plans for sustainable development makes us the perfect host country for COP 17 / CMP 7. We have numerous initiatives in place to ensure that Durban and the rest of the country is geared towards the outcomes stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol as well as those agreed on at COP 16 / CMP 6.
Durban is under pressure to adhere to mitigation requirements imposed by the conference and as such measures have been put in place to ensure that this takes place throughout the conference and further into the future. Hudu is at the forefront of one of these projects.