Bonn Climate Change Conference

The Bonn Climate Change Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) convened from 16 - 26 May, 2016 in Bonn, Germany. 

The Conference encompassed the 44th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI-44) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA-44), and the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA-1). Preparatory meetings for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Group of 77 and China on 12-13 May, 2016 and 14-15 May, 2016 consecutively.
 

SBSTA-44

The key focus of SBSTA-44 was to:

• continue its work on the methodological issues under the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Nairobi Work Programme on impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change (NWP)
• initiate work on matters mandated by the Paris Agreement including the on the technology framework and modalities for Article 6 of the Agreement (which relates to cooperative approaches and the framework for non-market approaches).

SBI-44

 SBI-44 focused on: 

• continuing  its regular work on implementation, including on mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol, capacity building, gender, and national adaptation plans (NAPs) 
  
• initiating work on matters mandated by the Paris Agreement including the development of modalities and procedures for a public registry for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and for adaptation communications.

APA-1 

The main intent of APA-1 was:

•  adopting a programme of work as mandated by the Paris Agreement
• coming to conclusions to further work on guidance for mitigation
• determining guidance for NDCs including information to facilitate their clarity, transparency and understanding and accounting for NDCs as well as further guidance for adaptation communications and for the transparency framework;
• discussing matters relating to the global stocktake; including potential modalities as well as  modalities and procedures for compliance; and preparation for the entry into force of the Paris Agreement.

CARICOM Climate Change Negoitiators Meeting

The CARICOM Negotiators Meeting was organised by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) and was held in St. Lucia during the period March 15- 16, 2013.  Ms Jewel Batchasingh, Climate Change/Ozone Specialist of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources represented Trinidad and Tobago at this strategic meeting.

The principal focus of this meeting was to:

•  Analyse the outcomes of Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP18/CMP 8) that occurred in December, 2012 and,

• Define the region’s objectives for the negotiations under the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban  Platform and other subsidiary bodies especially in relation to the new institutions established under the Convention during the past two years.

 The Second Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) was carded to meet during the period April 29 – May 03, 2013 and therefore, the meeting sought to formalise the CARICOM climate change negotiating position prior to this second session of the ADP.

Outcomes from the COP18/CMP 8 were discussed by various thematic coordinators. These presentations engendered discussions which allowed for a better understanding of the various issues. A concept note was prepared by Trinidad and Tobago which proposed a way forward for on-going negotiations under the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

AOSIS website goes live!

The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) is a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries that share similar development challenges and concerns about the environment, especially their vulnerability to the adverse effects of global climate change. The group functions primarily as an a lobby and negotiating voice for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) within the United Nations (UN) system. 

A meeting of 20 UN ambassadors from small island states at Port of Spain, Trinidad

AOSIS has a membership of 42 States and observers, drawn from all oceans and regions of the world: Africa, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Pacific and South China Sea. Thirty-seven are members of the UN, close to 28% of developing countries, and 20% of the UN’s total membership. Together, SIDS communities constitute some 5% of the global population.

The AOSIS group functions on the basis of consultation and consensus, and work together primarily through their New York diplomatic Missions to the United Nations. The Alliance does not have a formal charter, nor do they have a regular budget and a secretariat. The current chairman of the AOSIS group is the Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia.

“One point five to stay alive" - AOSIS' slogan

These island states, aka  “the conscience of the UN climate change convention” are calling upon the international community to limit greenhouse gases to well below 350 parts per million, to limit temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees Celsius and to enter into a legally binding agreement in order to achieve these targets. The impacts of climate change, they assert, are already being felt and therefore even a two degree target is too high.

For example, the future of one of the low-lying Pacific islands called Kiribati is currently being threatened by rising seas, and the situation is so dire that the government is contemplating relocating the entire population to man-made islands resembling giant oil rigs, at a cost of US$2 billion. Beachside villages in Kiribati have already had to move to escape the encroaching waves. Water supplies have been contaminated by salt water, and crops destroyed. Erosion, caused partly by storms and flooding, is increasingly serious.

Climate change impacts are already being felt in some islands like the Pacific island of Kiribati

The world therefore desperately needs to act to reduce carbon emissions, and the engagement of multilateral agencies with the smallest and most vulnerable nations sends a powerful message regarding commitment to the global climate challenge. In order to enhance communication among the islands, as well to inform and involve stakeholders, the AOSIS website has been recently revitalised. Visit the AOSIS website to follow all the latest happenings in negotiations.

Bonn Climate Change Conference

The international climate change treaty (UNFCCC) held a conference during May 14 - 25, 2012 in Bonn, Germany to discuss key issues on climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

Trinidad and Tobago, as a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), attended the conference with a delegation consisting of Mr Kishan Kumarsingh, Head of the MEAU and Ms Jewel Batchasingh, the MEAU's Climate Change/Ozone Specialist, along with the Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations, New York, Ms Rueanna Haynes.

Bonn's Climate Change Conference comprised five meetings, taking place simultaneously:

1. 36th Session of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 36)
2. 36th Session of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 36)
3. 17th Session of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 17)
4. 15th Session of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 15)
5. 1st Meeting of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durham Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP 1)

Notably, Trinidad and Tobago represented by Mr. Kumarsingh, was nominated as Co-chair of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) for the period June 2013 to December 2014, through the Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC). The first ADP meeting was considered contentious because countries believed that debating antagonistic issues such as election of officers of the ADP and the agenda was not the best start to negotiations of this new group.

Progress was made at Bonn for Trinidad and Tobago in the areas of carbon capture and storage (CCS), registry, measurement, reporting and verification of domestically supported Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), technical experts for International Consultation and Analysis (ICA), Technology Executive Committee (TEC), Climate Technology Climate Network (CTCN), loss and damage and response measures.

Mr Kishan Kumarsingh (left), Head of the MEAU, is to serve as the Co-Chair of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) during 2013-2014.

The ADP is a subsidiary body to the UNFCC Convention, charged with developing a protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force, which will be applicable to all Parties under UNFCCC. Its work is expected to be completed in 2015.