Lima limate Change Conference

The Lima Climate Change Conference convened from 1-14 December 2014, in Lima, Peru. It included the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 10).

Three subsidiary bodies (SBs) also met: the 41st sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 41) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 41), and the seventh part of the second session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 2-7).

Trinidad and Tobago was among the parties to participate at the COP20/CMP10. The country delegation comprised of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs  including the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Winston Dookeran (Head of delegation), Ambassador, His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis, (Director, Multilateral Relations Division) , Ms. Rueanna Haynes (Second Secretary, Permanent Representative to the UN, New York), and Ms. Joanna Ross (International Relations Officer).  Mr. Kishan Kumarsingh, Head of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements Unit, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources served as the co-chair of the ADP along with Artur Runge-Metzger of the European Union for  the ADP 2 - 7.

 

Mr. Kumarsingh, co-chair Of ADP following amendments to draft text

The negotiations were centred on the advancement of the work of the ADP towards a new climate agreement at COP 21 in Paris in 2015 as well as the elaboration of the information, and process required for submission of intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs).

Extensive negotiations resulted in a draft decision entitled the “Lima Call for Climate Action” sets in motion the negotiations in the coming year towards a 2015 agreement, the process for submitting and reviewing INDCs, and enhancing the pre-2020 ambition. Parties also adopted 19 decisions, 17 under the COP and two under the CMP that, inter alia: operationalized the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage; established the Lima work programme on gender; and adopted the Lima Declaration on Education and Awareness Raising.

The Lima Climate Change Conference was able to lay the groundwork for COP-21 Paris 2015, by capturing progress made in elaborating the elements of a draft negotiating text for the 2015 agreement and adopting a decision on INDCs, including their scope, upfront information, and steps to be taken by the Secretariat after their submission.