Next Round Of International Climate Change Talks Set For Ghana

Aug 11: The next round of United Nations international climate change negotiations is set to begin in Accra, Ghana, from August 21 to 27, 2008. The Accra Climate Change Talks will take forward work on a strengthened and effective international climate change deal under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as work on emission reduction rules and tools under the Kyoto Protocol. Over a thousand participants including government representatives, participants from business and industry, environmental organizations and research institutions are expected to attend the Accra gathering, which is part of the UN negotiating process that was launched that will be concluded in Copenhagen at the end of 2009. The process of global climate change negotiations will culminate in 2008 in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland, in December.

UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said, "At the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali in 2007, the international community embarked on a two-year negotiating process which is both critically important and under severe time pressure. We are now 8 months into these negotiations, and while progress has been made, there is no doubt that we need to move forward quickly." The crucial Accra talks comprise the third session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 3) and the first part of the sixth session of the Ad hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 6, part I).

Within the context of negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol, work is scheduled to be concluded on analyzing the means available to developed countries to reach their emission reduction targets. In the context of the negotiation process on strengthened international action against climate change, workshops will be held on policy approaches and positive incentives on issues relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. A second workshop will deal with on cooperative sectoral approaches and sector-specific actions.

Access a release on the upcoming meeting (click here). Access the Accra website for agendas, documents and further information as it becomes available (click here). [*Climate]