COP14 conference
What Is COP 14?
The issues of climate change are some of the most important subjects of international discussion in the world. Not only environmental non-governmental organisations, but primarily politicians and the representatives of governments, the representatives of international institutions, business, researchers and media take part in this debate.
COP 14 (the 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), along with the 4th Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol), which will take place on 1 – 12 December 2008 in Poznań, is the most prestigious forum of political discussion in the scope of climate protection, attracting the attention of the entire world. The Conference is organised by the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and hosted by the Government of the Republic of Poland, while the preparations are coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment of the Republic of Poland. It is envisaged that the two-week sessions will be attended by 8,000 participants: more than 190 government delegations headed by the Ministers for the Environment or Climate Change, international institutions, environmental, business and research non-governmental organisations and media.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is one of the most important environmental agreements to lay down a framework for international actions to address global climate warming. On the basis of the agreement adopted in the course of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro (1992), the objectives and principles were set for the cooperation among the States to prevent climate change and to mitigate its adverse effects, e.g. by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of negotiations, political decisions and legal instruments emerge to ensure the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, such as e.g. the Kyoto Protocol, which set out the States’ commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The debates under the Convention have also covered such important issues as the mechanisms to provide financial support for developing countries, technology transfer and international carbon dioxide emissions trading.
The supreme authority of the Convention is the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP), the sessions of which are held regularly (once a year) and aim at establishing the rules of implementation of UNFCCC. The subsidiary bodies (SBs), the Bureau, the Secretariat and the authorities established by the COP: working groups, export bodies and committees also operate in its scope.
The government delegations of the countries which have ratified the Convention (the Parties to the Convention) and observers take part in the negotiations and sessions of the Conference.
In addition to the plenary sessions and the meetings of working groups, the agenda of the Conference includes a number of side events (presentations, seminars, happenings and exhibitions) as well as those preceding the COP (events, debates etc..), with the main purpose of drawing attention to the problems related to global climate change. Large activity in this scope is demonstrated by non-governmental organisations which are numerously represented at the Conference and the host.
The Conference Agenda
Within the framework of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change Poznań 2008, the following will take place at the Congress Centre of the International Poznań Fair:
- The 14th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;
- The 4th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol;
- The 29th Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies.
