by Eva Charlene Te

Created on: December 22, 2008

UNITED NATIONS CLIMATE TALKS IN POZNAN, POLAND

Delegates from around the world gathered for the past two weeks (December 1-12, 2008) in Poznan, Poland, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan 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 (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) gathering in Bonn in June of 2009.

At Poznan, 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.

A key event at the Conference was a ministerial round table on a shared vision on long-term cooperative action on climate change. Ministers gave a resounding commitment to achieving an ambitious and comprehensive deal in Copenhagen that can be ratified by all.

In Poznan, Developing nations such as South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru just to name few have intensified their commitment with proposals to lower their national emissions.

President-Elect Obama asked for reports from Poznan. Just days before negotiations started, he pledged to lead the United States to engage in global climate talks and to move toward capping its own greenhouse gas emissions.

There was more than 40 congressional staff present at the conference, which is exactly the type of engagement needed from the U.S. Congress.

Delegates had the feeling of leaving the conference with a real momentum after, the signal from President-Elect Obama and proposals from developing countries.

In terms of the deforestation issues, developing and developed countries are coming together, even though negotiators barely managed to break the stalemate on technical details. There was a strong joint statement from 16 tropical and developed country ministers calling for early action to stop forest clearing, and Brazil committed to reduce its deforestation 70% in ten years.

However, the overall results of the Poznan talks were "merely adequate" and called on world leaders to work harder to reach a shared agreement to stop global warming before temperatures rise 2C.

While some Delegates feel they got the bare minimum of what was needed from the talks. They feel they got a clear mandate and timetable to go forward, but there's a lot to do and less than a year to do it .That we also need to put an end to the wait-and-see game.

Some feel it's time for the White House and Congress to take swift action on national legislation to cap U.S. emissions. The world is watching.

At the global level, world leaders are called to push hard to reach agreement at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009.

With new leadership in Washington, concrete proposals and momentum, there is a lot of work to be done between now and next December, but it is very doable.

Learn more about this author, Eva Charlene Te.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.