PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Peru: UN Climate negotiations open in Lima
Lima, Peru (PANA) - The UN climate negotiations opened Monday in Lima with a call to bring a draft of a new global climate change agreement to the table ahead of the 2015 Paris deadline, as nations scale up action to address the urgent need to reduce emissions and keep a global temperature rise under 2 degrees Celsius this century.
About 12,000 people from around the world are meeting in the Peruvian capital as governments work towards streamlining elements of a draft agreement for Paris 2015 and explore common ground on unresolved issues in order to achieve a balanced, well-structured, coherent draft for the next round of work on the text next February.
Addressing the opening plenary session, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres said that in order to aspire to great heights in Lima, the conference must draw several critical lines of action, which include bringing a draft of a new universal climate change agreement to the table and clarify how national contributions will be communicated next year.
“We must consolidate progress in adaptation to achieve political parity with mitigation, given the equal urgency of both,” the UN Climate Convention top official said.
Figueres pointed out that governments must enhance the delivery of finance, in particular to the most vulnerable and also stimulate ever-increasing action on the part of all stakeholders to scale up the scope and accelerate the solutions that move all nations forward, faster.
“With success in these areas, COP 20 / CMP 10 (20th session of the conference of the Parties / 10th session of the Conference of the Parties) is poised to deliver pre-2020 action, set the stage for a strong Paris agreement and increase ambition over time, ultimately fulfilling a long-term vision of climate neutrality in pursuit of development that is truly sustainable,” Figueres said, noting that 2014 is likely to be the hottest year on record and emissions continue to rise.
Governments meeting here need to define the scope and the type of contributions they will provide to the Paris agreement, along with clarity on how finance, technology and capacity building will be handled.
Countries will put forward what they plan to contribute to the 2015 agreement in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by the first quarter of 2015, well in advance of the Paris conference in December 2015.
Further areas where progress is expected in Lima include agreeing on how National Adaptation Plans of developing countries will be funded and turned into reality on the ground as climate change impacts worsen and impact the poor and vulnerable.
Countries will also work to agree a work programme for the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.
The Lima meeting is expected to fully operationalize the Technology Mechanism, especially the Climate Technology Centre and Network.
-0- PANA MM/AR 1Dec2014
About 12,000 people from around the world are meeting in the Peruvian capital as governments work towards streamlining elements of a draft agreement for Paris 2015 and explore common ground on unresolved issues in order to achieve a balanced, well-structured, coherent draft for the next round of work on the text next February.
Addressing the opening plenary session, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary, Christiana Figueres said that in order to aspire to great heights in Lima, the conference must draw several critical lines of action, which include bringing a draft of a new universal climate change agreement to the table and clarify how national contributions will be communicated next year.
“We must consolidate progress in adaptation to achieve political parity with mitigation, given the equal urgency of both,” the UN Climate Convention top official said.
Figueres pointed out that governments must enhance the delivery of finance, in particular to the most vulnerable and also stimulate ever-increasing action on the part of all stakeholders to scale up the scope and accelerate the solutions that move all nations forward, faster.
“With success in these areas, COP 20 / CMP 10 (20th session of the conference of the Parties / 10th session of the Conference of the Parties) is poised to deliver pre-2020 action, set the stage for a strong Paris agreement and increase ambition over time, ultimately fulfilling a long-term vision of climate neutrality in pursuit of development that is truly sustainable,” Figueres said, noting that 2014 is likely to be the hottest year on record and emissions continue to rise.
Governments meeting here need to define the scope and the type of contributions they will provide to the Paris agreement, along with clarity on how finance, technology and capacity building will be handled.
Countries will put forward what they plan to contribute to the 2015 agreement in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions by the first quarter of 2015, well in advance of the Paris conference in December 2015.
Further areas where progress is expected in Lima include agreeing on how National Adaptation Plans of developing countries will be funded and turned into reality on the ground as climate change impacts worsen and impact the poor and vulnerable.
Countries will also work to agree a work programme for the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.
The Lima meeting is expected to fully operationalize the Technology Mechanism, especially the Climate Technology Centre and Network.
-0- PANA MM/AR 1Dec2014
