Hopes rise for Paris climate deal

Paris prepares to host the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change conference beginning on Monday, raising expectations that the participation of nearly 150 Presidents, Prime Ministers and heads of state in a leadership event will bring about a good agreement.

The high-profile opening event at which U.S. President Barack Obama is to join China’s President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is intended to signal the seriousness with which climate change is being approached at CoP21, the conference of member countries.

France, the host, has been pursuing diplomacy with governments most connected with the issue. Even though the Paris attacks a fortnight ago cast a shadow, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius travelled to India, Brazil and South Africa to bring about a common view.

For India and other developing countries, the momentum that has built around the Paris conference is an opportunity to press their case for funds from the First World.

On Sunday, Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar said here: “We have to move forward from the Kyoto Protocol [which is in effect till 2020], and developed countries must accept their responsibility for the 75 or 80 per cent of emissions already in the atmosphere.”

Data that may be helpful:

Important Points:-

• The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC Parties (Conferences of the Parties) (COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change, and beginning in the mid-1990s, to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol to establish legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
• From December 1-12, 2014, Lima, Peru hosted the 20th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been developed under the UNFCCC's charter).  
• COP 21 will be held in Paris from November 30 to December 11, 2015.
• COP 22 is expected to be held in Marrakech,Morocco from November 7-18, 2016 
• COP 3 took place in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. After intensive negotiations, it adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which outlined the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation for Annex I countries, along with what came to be known as Kyoto mechanisms such as emissions trading, clean development mechanism and joint implementation.

Source :-The Hindu,30-Nov-2015