Planet cannot be saved without local governments, say Roadmap partners at UNFCCC Climate Change Talks in Bangkok
- From left to right: Yunus Arikan, Director ICLEI Cities Climate Center, Ronan Dantec, on behalf of UCLG, Gino Van Begin, Deputy Secretary General ICLEI Europe, speaking at the Bangkok Climate Change Talks
28 September - 9 October 2009, Bangkok, Thailand
Local governments’ (LGs) advocacy efforts for inclusion of references to local governments and regions in the next global agreement on climate change continue at the UNFCCC Climate Change Talks in Bangkok from 28 September to 9 October.
The Bangkok Talks focused on the key elements of the Bali Action Plan, namely: adaptation, finance, technology, mitigation, capacity building and a shared vision for long-term cooperative action. While progress in the areas of adaptation, technology and capacity building was described as satisfactory, deep divides remain on issues such as finance and mitigation. One of the most important achievements in Bangkok was progress on land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF), while negotiations on Annex I parties’ aggregate and individual emission reductions in the post-2012 period seem to be stuck. Differences also surfaced between developed and developing countries concerning whether the outcome from Copenhagen should be an amendment to the Kyoto Protocol or a single new agreement. To further consolidate the negotiation text a number of non-papers was produced and will be forwarded to the next Climate Change Talks in Barcelona, Spain, on 2-6 November 2009.
LG representatives were present during the Bangkok Talks and had the chance to hold bilateral meetings with national delegations' representatives from several countries, including the EU, USA, Switzerland, France, Norway, Canada, India, South Korea, Uruguay, Panama, Algeria (African Group), Bangladesh (Group of Least Developed Countries) and Mexico.
Based on these meetings, ICLEI – Local Government for Sustainability and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) proposed amendments related to subnational and local governments in the Non-Papers of the AWG- LCA (as of 8 October).
During a joint press conference of the Roadmap partners ICLEI and UCLG on 7 October 2009, LG representatives offered once more their partnership to national governments in the fight against climate change, acknowledging that the planet cannot be saved without local governments. For more information, watch the UNFCCC webcast or download the press release.
At the last days of the Talks, interventions at the closing plenaries of AWG-LCA and AWG-KP were made by the Local Government and Municipal Authorities (LGMA) Constituency.
To read these intervention, please click on the links below:
Further information
Association Francaise du Conseil des Communes et Régions d'europe (afccre): Négaciations internationales sur le climat, conferénce de Bangkok: Les collectivités territoriales défendent leur rôle (9 October 2009 - in French)