UNFCCC Climate Change Bonn Talks, June 2010

The June 2010 Bonn Climate Change Talks, took place between May 31 and June 11, 2010 as a precursor to the UNFCCC COP16 conference to be held in Mexico in December 2010.

The meeting included the 32nd sessions of the UNFCCC Convention subsidiary, the tenth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 10) and the 12th session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP 12). Approximately 2,900 participants attended the meeting, representing governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, academia, the private sector and the media.

Addressing the media on the final day of the Bonn session, out-going UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Yvo de Boer, stated that progress made during the two weeks opens the way for Cancún, Mexico to deliver the full package of operational measures that will allow developing countries to take faster, stronger action across all areas of climate change (www.unfccc.int).

Mr De Boer also underlined the need for governments to make full use of the next two formal sessions ahead of Cancún, and emphasised the need for intense work at all levels to help and give guidance.

The week prior to the Bonn talks, over 500 Mayors, municipal decision-makers and experts from universities and international organisations from all continents met for Resilient Cities 2010, the first world congress on the adaptation of cities to the impacts of Climate Change, organised by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, the World Mayors Council on Climate Change and the City of Bonn.

Mr De Boer spoke emphatically about the role of cities in international climate adaptation at the final plenary of the Resilient Cities Congress, and said “Ultimately, it is cities that will directly face and directly deal with climate change impacts”. We know from past experience that the poor in all countries suffer most from the impacts of climate change. Local authorities are hard-placed to provide [help] without a national and international policy framework,” de Boer said. “National governments should not be allowed to get away with this.”

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability closely followed and participated in various sessions of the Bonn talks, as part of the Local Government Climate Roadmap (Climate Roadmap website).