(1996)
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The second meeting of The Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COPII-FCCC), convened in Geneva, Switzerland July 8-19, 1996. The treaty was presented in 1992 at the Rio "Earth Summit," and has now been ratified by 159 nations, including the U.S. The treaty requires participating Annex I (developed) nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. At COPI, however, meeting in Berlin in 1995, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) proposed that developed nations reduce emissions to a level 20%, less than 1990 levels. The COP did not adopt the proposal, but did adopt the "Berlin Mandate" which was an agreement to develop a legally binding Protocol by 1997. COPII was designed to negotiate The terms of the Protocol for adoption at COPlII in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. To influence the proceedings, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Second Assessment Report (SAR). For the first time, the official UN body claimed that "...the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate." Although 100 scientists - some of whom were participants in the IPCC process - publicly objected to the report's findings in a statement called the "Leipzig Declaration," the Conference pushed forward toward a legally binding Protocol. The conference document, called the "Ministerial Declaration," endorses The SAR; declares that emissions will eventually have to be reduced by 50%; and calls on developed nations to initiate policies to reduce emissions within specific industries: energy, transportation, agriculture, forestry, waste management, and economic instruments. |