UNFCCC holds informal talks in Thailand

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held Informal Talks at Bangkok Thailand during August 26 to September 05, 2012 to support its ongoing cooperative efforts toward climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Mr Kishan Kumarsingh (left) in his capacity as Facilitator, AWG-LCA and

Mr Aysar Tayeb, Chair of the AWG-LCA

The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources representatives, Mr Kishan Kumarsingh and Ms Jewel Batchasingh attended the meeting on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago. This meeting saw the resumption of the following groups to advance decisions on climate change:

• Ad Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA)
• Ad Hoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP)

The meeting also served as the forum for the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (AWG-ADP), which is a technical group organised to develop another protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the Convention applicable to all Parties, which will come into force in 2015.

These talks had some measure of success in all three tracks, with the next key conference being the UNFCCC pre-COP meeting in the Republic of Korea, October 2012. Many developing countries believe that work cannot progress in the AWG-ADP until they are satisfied with the conclusions of the other two AWGs. 

In this context, it is felt that Bangkok met its objectives in illuminating the linkages and trade-offs among the three AWGs. The UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) is carded for Doha in November 2012 and is anticipated to be a difficult meeting as it seeks to end the AWG-LCA, and secure a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.