Convention on Climate Change in Bali

The next meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or the Kyoto Protocol will be taking place in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007. Bali will determine the future international policy on climate change, and youth must make their voice heard. Between now and December, youth from across the globe will organize to bring a sense of urgency and rationality to the meeting. The future of the UNFCCC process is up for debate, and with it the future of international action to stop climate change. If the UNFCCC cannot respond to the urgent conclusions contained in the report of the IPCC, the ability of the international mechanism to respond to global challenges might become irrelevant.

The euphoria following the recent IPCC reports and the end of the current Convention Dialogue process point to Bali. Without continuous public pressure between now and December, politicians might forget that the purpose of the UNFCCC is the “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”, and not to develop a profitable, but useless, carbon market.

Read more: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/

Tony Juniper comments in the Guardian:

Getting a deal in Bali must be seen as the real prize. Certainly the G8 can be an important milestone, but the political strategy needs to see Bali as the main opportunity. If there is to be any real chance of staying below two degrees of warming, then Bali must build on the last 15 years of international climate talks, and all the finely honed nuances contained in the Kyoto mechanisms, to set out a new future deal. Of course Kyoto is flawed, but it is the best we have and it will not be replaced by a more effective agreement coming out of the G8 talks.