1972

It all started in 1972 in Stockholm, when the seminal United Nations Conference on the Human Environment established the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). This conference and the formation of the new UN Division secured the international political nature of environmental issues and began the process of highlighting its prioritisation in global negotiations. 

This was followed by a flurry of environment related conventions, groups and reports as it quickly became clear that international and cooperative regulation and action was required to combat our destructive behaviours. These include the 1979 Geneva Convention (transboundary air pollution) the establishment in 1983 of the World Commission on Environment and Development, the 1987 Brundtland report, Our Common Future which seeded the term "sustainable development", the 1985 Helsinki Agreement (sulphur dioxide emissions) and the 1989 Basel Convention (hazardous waste).

One of the particular successes of this pre-UNFCCC days, which lays the foundation for the hope that we can implement immediate and committed action is the 1988 Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. To me, the Montreal protocol is also seminal in many ways, as we did it; we identified something terrible we were doing, many businesses resisted, but we found a way through the obstacles and eliminated the dangerous CFCs that were destroying our ozone, from use altogether. Carbon is ofcourse on a completely different scale, but we did it once, and we can do it again.

1992

A United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which became famously known as the Earth Summit. The two key outcomes were the Rio Declaration and the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). We are still working from the UNFCCC today. A series of Conference of the Parties (COP) was decided upon as a tool to carry the negotiations and implementations forward.

The importance of the great imperative that was identified at the Earth Summit is captured poignantly by the hourglass-shaped monument in Rio de Janeiro which now contains soil samples from nearly 150 countries, a symbolic representation of the oneness of humanity and the global cooperation needed to achieve lasting peace. The monument was initiated by the Bahai International Community. Etched in four languages on the four sides of the upper pyramid is a quote from Baha’u’llah, who wrote more than a century ago: "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."

1995 – The first Conference of the Parties, COP1, was held in Berlin and the Berlin Mandate was adopted as a commitment by developed nations to set specific targets and timeframes for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and to outline explicit policies and measures to meet these targets.

1996 – At the COP2 in Geneva, the Ministerial Declaration was adopted which firmly stated that the science of climate change was compelling, and that legally binding commitments on greenhouse gas emissions were warranted.

1997

COP 3 was held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. The intention at Kyoto was to adopt a Protocol to finally establish specific and legally binding carbon emissions reductions and trading targets for industrialised countries. To work, this Protocol had to be adopted by at least 55 of the industrialised nations which accounted for a minimum of 55 percent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions produced in 1990.

The Kyoto Protocol was seen at the time as one of humankind’s missed opportunities. Although the Clinton Administration fully committed the United States to the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, the new George W. Bush Administration announced in 2001 that the US would no longer be formally ratifying the agreement.

What does the Kyoto Protocol say?

“The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement under which industrialised countries will reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990 (but note that, compared to the emissions levels that would be expected by 2010 without the Protocol, this target represents a 29% cut). The goal is to lower overall emissions from six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs.” United Nations Environment Programme

1998 – COP 4 in Buenos Aires established a list of 140 items that necessitated agreement before countries could ratify the Protocol. The Buenos Aires Plan of Action included items ranged from working out an enforcement regime to establishing the rules for an emissions-trading system.

The island nations were the first to begin ratifying (which was defined as accepting into domestic policy); Fiji, Maldives, Tuvalu, Trinidad and Tobago etc. The European Union, because it collected and submitted all member countries simultaneously, ratified in 2002, a few days before Japan. Most of the oil producing countries of the Middle East  signed up in 2005. Along with the USA, Russia, Australia and Turkey were amongst the countries that rejected the Protocol for many years.

1999 – COP 5 in Bonn continued the negotiation efforts to encourage adoption.

2000 – At COP 6 in The Hague, British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott famously stormed out in disgust and the meeting was widely reported as a resounding catastrophe. Greenpeace said the meeting "will be remembered as the moment when governments abandoned the promise of global cooperation to protect the planet Earth."

2001

COP 6 in Bonn and COP 7 in Marrakesh were both held in 2001. Most of the high-profile issues that remained outstanding were finally resolved in the Bonn Agreements and the Marrakech Accords. 67 countries signed up to the Kyoto Protocol between 2001-2002.

COP 6 and COP 7 started a culture of openness at these negotiations. The Germans and Moroccans posted pictures from the negotiations, publicised evening receptions and began to release full videos of proceedings.

Top: COP 6, Bonn, Left to right: Conferring with Delegates from Bhutan and Benin, The EU Delegates huddle, Announcing winners of the Fossil of the Day Awards.

Bottom: Cop 7, Marrakesh, Left to right: The Iranian Vice President/Head of the Department for Environment arrives, Delegates huddle around the South African Energy Minister, tea break Moroccan style. Photos courtesy of IISD/ENB-Leila Mead

2002 – The  USA, Australia and Russia had still not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. COP 8 was held in New Delhi, India and gave the Indians an opportunity to get into the debate. Developing country’s ratification was not required for the Protocol to come into force, including India and China though many signed up, including India and China. The exemption from emissions targets of these two countries in particular is cited as one of its main limitations and the primary reason for the USA’s continued opposition. Holding the COP in India emboldened developing countries to raise their own criticisms of the perceived ‘them and us’ culture of the negotiations and the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) it tabled.

“When was the last time the South took a leadership position in the climate talks?… As developing countries fight each other to sell off the rights of their future generations for peanuts under the CDM, vying to provide the industrialised world with the cheapest way to buy their way out of emission cuts! One can only marvel at the ingenuity of Northern leadership when it comes to protecting their national economic interests by drawing on somebody else’s expense account, and at the extreme stupidity of Southern leaders who allow the situation to degrade. Again and again and again and again, in negotiation after negotiation.”

New Delhi is generally seen as unsuccessful, but it did begin to raise the status of developing countries in the negotiations. The Delhi Declaration reflected a strong developing country perspective, emphasising the issues of sustainable development, adaptation, and implementation by developed countries of their commitments.

2002

The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 was not part of the Rio-Kyoto-COP process. It did however produce the Johannesburg Declaration which built on the earlier declarations made in Stockholm in 1972 and the Earth Summit in 1992. While committing the nations of the world to sustainable development, it also substantially promotes multilateralism as the way forward. To build a sustainable world, it also points to the threats from  chronic hunger, armed conflict, organised crime, corruption, people trafficking, terrorism and chronic diseases.

2003 – COP9 in Milan focused on the remaining technicalities.

2004 – COP 10 in Buenos Aires continued to highlight capacity building for developing countries and the work of the Least Developed Countries Expert Group was seen as a success. It called for the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and further enhanced procedures for the Clean Development Mechanism.

By January 2004, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and most European countries had ratified Kyoto. Signatory countries now represented approximately 44 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions produced in 1990. Without the USA, the deciding factor in the eventual implementation of the Protocol was Russia, which represented 17 percent of total 1990 emissions.

2005 The Kyoto Protocol Comes into Effect.

The pivotal 55% was achieved in 2005 when Russia finally signed up; without Russia, the Protocol would not have met the 55 percent threshold and would have been a definitive failure. On February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol formally came into effect, committing key industrialised countries to specific targets for reducing or limiting their greenhouse gas emissions between 2008 and 2012. Many citizen groups celebrated this event which demonstrated an enhanced consciousness for humanity and a significant step towards saving the fragile ecology of Planet Earth and human societies upon it.

2005 – COP11 in Montreal was an historic event. Following the beginning of the Kyoto era, this was the first COP to also serve as the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (CMP). It was the largest intergovernmental climate conference since the Kyoto Protocol was created in 1997.  Some 10,000 participants attended. The conference attracted unprecedented business interest as the pan-European emissions trading scheme was big on the agenda. The President of the host nation, Canada said “The Kyoto Protocol has been switched on, a dialogue about the future action has begun, parties have moved forward work on adaptation and advanced the implementation of the regular work programme of the Convention and of the Protocol.”

2006 – The last remaining technical questions regarding the Kyoto Protocol were agreed at COP12 in Nairobi and negotiations began on reaching a new agreement when the Protocol expires in 2012. The first COP in Africa enabled the increased participation of African NGOs and other observers alongside UN and government representatives. Nairobi also saw an increased youth presence and has also become significant at the first time an Amendment was added to the Kyoto Protocol.

2007

COP 13 in Bali in 2007 culminated in the adoption of  the Bali Road Map, which consists of a number of forward-looking decisions that are essential to reaching a secure climate future. The Bali Action Plan lays down the course for a new negotiating process to tackle climate change, with the aim of completing this in time for COP 15 in Copenhagen, when it is hoped that a new post-Kyoto agreement will be negotiated. The Adaptation Fund which had been a controversial area in negotiations was finally launched. It is designed to assist countries in adapting to the adverse effects of climate change and facilitates the development of techniques and programmes that can help increase resilience to the impacts of climate change. The Adaptation Fund was especially designed to support vulnerable developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

In the same year in Australia, it took a change of government and public pressure, but the Kyoto Protocol was finally ratified; the new Prime Minister made good on his election promise to overturn Australia's decade-long opposition o the Protocol.

Turkey signed up in 2009 due to a host of pro-Kyoto protests from citizens in the lead up to COP 14 in December 2008.

2008 – Poznan COP 14 - The Adaptation Fund was prepared for going live with an increased will to support concrete adaptation measures in the least developed countries. Much of the discussions at Proznan were aimed towards creating a new global climate agreement in Copenhagen. This COP happened after the US elections of 2008 and the change of power in Washington set an optimistic tone for the conference, characterised by keen anticipation of a positive stance by the new American government.

2009

A series of negotiations by the various other Convention groups such as the Ad Hoc Working Parties and Subsidiary Groups, have been convening throughout 2009 in Bonn, to facilitate the critical negotiations at COP 15 in Copenhagen.

From December 7th-18th, COP 15 will take place in Copenhagen. With very high expectations for COP15, it seems that Denmark has become the Climate Capital of the world, a fitting position for the world leader in wind generated energy. With typical Scandinavian flair, the Danes are building a wind turbine by the conference centre to generate the electricity for COP15. COP 15 will be hosted by the government of Denmark represented by Connie Hedegaard, the Minister of Climate and Energy and Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

With 184 countries signed up to the Kyoto Protocol, the global community has already helped stabilise and in some cases reduce greenhouse gas emissions in several industrialised countries. However, there is still work to be done:

•The emission reduction targets established under the Kyoto Protocol apply only to 36 industrialised countries and cover only a portion of global greenhouse gases and emissions.

•It is furthermore believed that the rapid growth in emissions since 1997 from both developed and developing countries will counteract the emission reductions achieved through Kyoto.

•The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

I think we should be proud of where we have come considering all the ups and downs, the many tears and tantrums. The negotiations will always remain fragile while countries remain at such different levels of development. But we’ve come a very long way since 1972 and we must continue striving to understand and respect each other and the only planet that we have. This is why it is so important that Copenhagen is a success, why it is imperative that we reach a global post-2012 climate change agreement and why concerned citizens of the world await keenly to learn of a new Copenhagen Protocol.

Stockholm: City of the archipelago ©

We fixed a hole in the sky! Marablogger

Peace Monument at RioBahai World News Service

Cyber Towers of India, epitome of development  ©

Thai girls celebrate the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol (Greenpeace)

Margaret Koli, Kenya, flanked by Nathalie Arsenault, Canada and Harshini de Silve, Sri Lanka, announced the African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (COP12). Photo courtesy of IISD/ENB-Leila Mead

Pro-Kyoto protest in Istanbul - Photo courtesy of NTVMSNBC

Copenhagen: City of windmills ©

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