WWF Boosts Pacific Island Attendance in Montreal

More Participation this year from the Cook Islands

Mr Charlie Numanga of the Cook Islands Red Cross and Mr. Vaitoti Tupa, Director of the Cook Islands National Environment Service represented Cook Islands NGOs at the UNFCCC in Montreal

One of the factors hindering effective Pacific participation at international climate meetings, or any international meetings for that matter, is the small size of national delegations to these meetings. To ameliorate this problem, WWF, through the EC funded climate change project, funded the participation of one government and one civil society representative from the Cook Islands at the 11th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1st Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, in Montreal, Canada, this year. WWF expects to increase attendance next year to include Tuvalu as well.

These participants included Mr. Vaitoti Tupa, the Director of the Cook Islands National Environment Service, and Mr. Charlie Numanga from the Cook Islands Red Cross. The above named were nominated by their governments and umbrella NGO body to attend the COP.

At the conference, they observed and learned how UN meetings work, the roles of different regional groupings at UN meetings, and followed agenda items of national interest to later share their experiences and advice with national climate change stakeholders at national workshops early next year.

Though Tuvalu and the Cook Islands attend all the Conferences of Parties (COPs), WWF assistance enabled the attendace of two additional people from the Cook Islands.

A training workshop was held in November of this year for Pacific negotiators informing them of the important issues to the Pacific and build their capacity to become active participants in international discussions.

The 11th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP11)

The 11th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP11), as well as the 1st Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (MOP1) was held in Montreal, Canada from November 26th to December 9th, 2005.

Currently, the Kyoto Protocol mandates developed countries that have ratified it to reduce their emissions of climate changing gases by 5% of 1990 levels by 2050. This target expires in the year 2012 and this year – 2005 has been earmarked as the year when this target is to be reviewed.

Real progress was made at the Montreal climate talks as governments finalized the ground rules for the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol and set the stage for discussions to further cut carbon emissions after 2012.

“Common sense won the day when ministers agreed to start the talks about future reductions in carbon pollution,” says Jennifer Morgan, Director of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme. “People know that the Kyoto Protocol is the only viable approach to combat climate change and the Montreal meeting has successfully moved that process forward.”

Outcomes from the Montreal Climate Talks

The final pact made progress in three broad areas:

  1. The signatories to Kyoto agreed on the details essential for the implementation of the pact. For example, they accepted compliance rules that set out what happens if countries do not meet their targets. They also agreed on ways to improve the treaty's overly bureaucratic mechanism for rich countries to gain credits for reducing GHGs in developing ones and in former Soviet states.
  2. Delegates agreed that future climate talks should take twin tracks:
    • Kyoto signatories will now start negotiations on what binding emissions targets the rich countries of "Kyotoland" must accept for the second commitment period. These negotiations must be completed in time to ensure that there is no gap between the first round and what follows.
    • Everyone-including America-agreed to start talks on a possible UN climate pact that would include America and China.
  3. Delegates agreed to promote carbon capture and sequestration technologies, and to get serious about adaptation to climate change

» A Groundswell of Support for Real Climate Action at the Montreal Conference

WWF urges Pacific governments and NGOs to continue participating at future un climate meetings. We also urge Pacific governments and NGOs to ensure that future climate talks fulfill commitments made at cop11/mop1, in a timeframe that prevents dangerous climate change.