India’s Third National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was submitted on December 9, 2023. The report contains information on India’s greenhouse gas emissions, its vulnerability to climate change, and the measures it is taking to mitigate emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. …
INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS ON TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT History of conflict - The world initiated a multilateral trading system with the establishment of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( gatt ) in 1946 to promote trade liberalisation. - The Uruguay Round, held between 1986 and 1994, led to the creation of …
THE MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENTS Attempted agreement The first suggestion for a multilateral agreement on investments came during the Uruguay Round in 1994. It was strongly opposed by Southern countries as it threatened to take away regulatory control over foreign investment. The eu made an unsuccessful attempt to introduce the …
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL FACILITY Established in October 1991, number of members: 165 The institution The World Bank designed the institutional structure for the Global Environmental Facility (gef ), initiated in 1990. The us made sure gef began on a temporary three-year term. With Australia and Canada, the us maintained that such …
EVOLVING INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE UN Reform to perform The un 's attempts to streamline its environment programme have been consistent. The results have not. The reform process began in 1992. It involved extensive reassembling and bringing all units dealing with economic and social matters under …
UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE In force from March 1994, ratified by 176 countries KYOTO PROTOCOL Signed by 84 countries, not yet in force A political process driven by climate scientists, which began in the mid-1980s, resulted in the Framework Convention on Climate Change ( fccc ), signed by …
environmental experts in industrialised nations feel that it will be impossible to achieve an international target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels recorded in the early 1990s by 2008-12, according to a worldwide survey released in Tokyo recently. A total of 597 people in 82 countries working for their …
after maintaining a prolonged suspense, Russia, the world's second largest producer of greenhouse gas ( ghg ) emissions, has signed the Kyoto Protocol. Countries already party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( un fccc ) had to sign the protocol negotiated at Kyoto on December 11, …
On the lopsided negotiating position of the US at CoP-4: The us position in the climate talks is an extension of the belief that the free market can solve the problem that the free market has created. The us is pushing hard to globalise emissions trading, because big industries, whose …
Green Politics , the first in a series of publications on global environmental negotiations (GEN) provides a close analysis of important environment-related conventions and institutions from their origins, and demystifies the global politics behind 'saving the environment'. The book presents a first-ever comprehensive Southern perspective of the impact of global …
THE Non Aligned Movement summit, held recently in South Africa, debated the Kyoto Protocol which requires industrialised nations to cut down on their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 5.2 per cent between 2008-2012. The NAM members, comprising 113 nations across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe, called on the developed …
What in your opinion were the contentious issues in the deliberations on sinks at the Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technical Advice (SUBSTA)? Most issues were contentious as many parties had no clue what the issue of "sinks" was all about. This showed neglect or ignorance regarding climate feedbacks on …
'There is no consensus among G-77 nations' espen ronneberg, counsellor, Permanent Mission to the United Nations of the Republic of the Marshall Islands The US expects developing nations to take their word for the workability of the emissions trading scheme without explaining how it would work. There is no de …
On entitlements: Each human being is entitled to a share of the global commons. This entitlement should not be dependent on wealth. However, it is difficult to get people to agree on the principle of per capita entitlement. Countries want to continue with current levels of emissions. The Montreal Protocol …
Are the nations of the world serious in their much-touted efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions? Vinayak Rao examines the motives, moods and manifestoes in the run-up to the forthcoming climate change conference in Geneva.
THE stage is set for thesecond Conference of Parties(cop-2) to the UnitedNations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change(UNFCCC)slated forJuly 8-191in GenevaSwitzerland. It may berecalled that the FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange (Fccc) signed at theEarth Summit in Rio in1992had called upon theindustrialised nations toreduce their carbon dioxide(C02) emissions to 1990levels by the year2000This commitment …
The Berlin mandate incorporates certain pointers to what should be the elements in a future protocol to be adopted at the third Conference of Parties (COP-3) in 1997. The most important of these elements are as follows: • Governments agree that the proposal of the Alliance of Small Island States, …
Preparations for the Rio+20 United Nations conference on sustainable development have begun, but the first round of preparatory meetings did not address important issues such as sustainable resource use, production and consumption. The Rio+20 United Nations (UN) conference on sustainable development, to take place in Rio de Janeiro in June, …
As all countries take actions to reduce emissions the unresolved question is to what extent fairness will be the basis for international cooperation International cooperation for a global approach to climate change continues to tweak a failing system arrived at in 1992 rather than seeking a new framework and developing …
Background The difference between countries is whether international cooperation is to be based around the “green economy” or around the “green economy in the context of sustainable development and eradication of poverty”. The former implies that all countries can move towards more sustainable pathways without compromising growth, while the latter …
The underlying issue is not trade rules but the global climate regime The concerted opposition to the EU push towards forcing foreign airlines landing in Europe to become a part of its emissions trading scheme has led to an unexpected development, whose implications extend to setting the global climate agenda. …
