The
major activities in the multilateral domain on climate
change in the year of 2000 were the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 12th and 13th sessions of
its two subsidiary bodies and the 6th Conference of the
Parties (COP 6). Chinese delegations consisted of
officials from the Foreign Ministry, the State Development
and Planning Commission, the Ministry of Science and
Technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of
Finance, the State Environmental Protection Administration
and the Chinese Meteorological Administration attended these
meetings. Furthermore, intersessional
consultations on the major topics for negotiation such as
the three mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, the utilization
of the “carbon sink” and the procedure of
compliance of the convention were held. China sent
delegates to these consultations.
The 12th session of
the Subsidiary Body of Implementation (SBI) and the
Subsidiary Body of Scientific and Technological Advice
(SBSTA) were held in Bonn, Germany in June 2000.
The 13th session of the two subsidiary bodies were
held in Lyon, France in September 2000. The
primary task of these two sessions was to implement the
decisions of the 5th Conference of the Parties (COP 5) and
make preparations for COP 6. So far as the two
sessions were concerned, there was no outstanding changes in
the situation of the negotiation, the positions of the
various sides and the balance of power. In the
negotiation on the major topics such as the three
mechanisms, the role of the “carbon sink” and
technology transfer, the various sides further exchanged
views but did not make much
progress.
The COP 6 was held in
the Hague, Netherlands from November 13 to 25, 2000.
During this period, the ministerial meeting was
held from November 20 to 25. This was the most
important conference of the parties since the Kyoto
conference in 1997.
The task
of the conference was to put into effect the various
obligations under the UNFCCC for the developed countries to
help the developing countries and reach agreement on the
major topics in the domain of climate change such as the
three mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, the role of the
“carbon sink” and the procedure of compliance of
the convention so as to strengthen the implementation of the
convention and impel the Kyoto Protocol to go into force
before 2002.
The various sides
showed great concern and expectations over this conference,
with close to 7000 people representing 181 governments of
the contracting parties, international organizations, NGOs
and news media in attendance; the Queen of the Netherlands
attended the conference on two occasions; its Prime Minister
attended the opening ceremony; the Presidents of France,
Costa Rica and Vice Presidents of Iran and two other
countries and over 70 ministers of various countries
attended and spoke at the
conference.
To push for the
progress of the conference, Pronk, Minister of Environment
of the Netherlands sorted the topics of the conference into
four categories, i.e. (1) Providing funding assistance,
capacity building and technological transfer to
the developing countries; (2) The role of carbon sink; (3)
The three mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol; (4) The
compliance of the convention, the reporting and appraisal
procedure and prepared a copy of “The Chairman’s
Draft Text”. The ministers of various
countries directly participated in the negotiation on the
foregoing topics.
On the
question of providing funding and technological transfer to
the developing countries, the positions of the developed
countries became somewhat flexible. President
Cirac of France, on behalf of the EU indicated that it
supported the increase of donations to the Global
Environmental Fund (GEF). The Deputy Prime
Minister of the UK indicated that the funds of the GEF
should be increased by 50 %. The EU and “The
Umbrella Group” (the US, Japan, Canada and Australia)
had respectively submitted specific programs. Though they
were far from the needs of the developing countries, it was
the first time the developed countries made indications of
substance.
One of the focuses
of the negotiation on the three mechanisms of the Kyoto
Protocol was the “supplementary” issue, i.e. to
what degree the developed countries could fulfil their
obligation of emission reduction through activities beyond
their borders. The Umbrella Group attempted to use the three
mechanisms of the protocol in an unrestricted way to fulfil
its commitment of emission reduction; whereas the EU and
“The Group of 77+China”advocated that there
should be strict upper limits for the use of the three
mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol; activities beyond borders
could only be a supplement to domestic emission reduction.
On the question of the utilization of the
“carbon sink” , the Umbrella Group attempted to
realize its aim of lessening its obligation of emission
reduction through the adoption of the carbon sink and its
method of calculation favorable to it; whereas the EU and
“The Group of 77+China”stressed the effect of
substantive emission
reduction.
On the question of
“the Procedure of Compliance”, the parties
agreed to the establishment of a standing body of compliance
and basically reached consensus on the fundamental
framework and its operational procedure. However,
differences remained obvious on the questions of the
composition of the body of compliance, “discriminate
treatments” of the developed and the developing
countries and the consequences of violation of the
convention.
To sum up, the
parties were very close to a consensus on some issues, but
due to the sharp conflict of interests over the nucleus
issues, a package agreement eventually was not reached.
The conference decided to continue its sitting
between May and June
2001.
China and the UN
Convention on Combating
Desertification
The 4th
Conference of Contracting Parties to the UN Convention on
Combating Desertification (hereinafter as the convention )
was held in Bonn, Germany from December 11 to 22, 2000.
During this period, a ministerial meeting was held
from December 18 to 19 and a round table meeting of members
of parliament of the contracting parties was held from
December 12 to 14. 172 contracting parties sent delegates to
the conference. UNEP, UNDP, UNFAO, UNFCCC , the
Secretariat of the Convention on Bio-Diversity and the EU
sent observers to the conference. Delegates of
over 100 countries and international organizations spoke at
the high-level meeting.
This
conference primarily discussed the important topics such as
the implementation of the convention, the arrangement of the
bodies and their operation, the program and the budget, the
global mechanism, the declaration on the implementation of
the convention and the arrangement for the 5th Conference of
the Contracting Parties. The conference reviewed
the individual reports on the implementation of the
convention of 31 countries including China. On the
question of the program and the budget, the conference
reached consensus only on replenishing funding for the
participation in the next conference by the delegates of the
developing countries affected by desertification and the
NGOs. In accordance with the “Recife
Initiative” adopted by the 3rd Conference of the
Contracting Parties, the conference also held consultations
on the declaration on the implementation of the convention.
Due to the passive attitude of the developed
countries on the question of the implementation, the
declaration basically only repeated the relevant contents of
the convention. The conference also decided that
the 5th Conference of the Contracting Parties would be held
in Bonn from September 17 to 29,
2001.
Taken as a whole, the
conference did not make much progress on
substantive issues. The developed
countries, especially the EU countries, treated
perfunctorily the topics of financial assistance,
technological transfer, review of the implementation of the
convention and the formulation of the protocol.
The developing countries fervently urged the
developed countries to carry out their obligations under the
convention but with little
result.
The Chinese Delegation
consisted of officials from the Foreign Ministry , the
Forestry Administration and other departments attended the
conference. Li Yucai, Vice Director General of the
Forestry Administration and Head of the Chinese Delegation
spoke at the Ministerial Meeting, giving an account of the
achievements of China in the prevention of desertification
and sand control, the present status of the desertification
and the policy measures it intended to take.
The Chinese
Delegation carried out a great amount of conciliatory work
among the developed countries and some radical developing
countries, put forward numerous constructive views and
played a most important role in deciding the major topics.
On the question of the implementation of the
convention, the Chinese delegates actively talked with the
various parties and finally made the conference decide to
call a meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group in Bonn from
March 19 to April 6, 2001 and authorize the meeting to
submit a background report on the establishment of the
commission on reviewing the implementation of the
convention. This outcome was of important
significance in urging the developed countries to implement
the convention and was one of the most important results of
this conference. The Chinese Delegation also
briefed the conference on China’s achievements in the
prevention of desertification and won unanimous and
favorable comments of the
parties.
The Standing Committee
of the National People’s Congress of China also sent
for the first time its Member Wang Tao to attend the round
table meeting of the members of the
parliament.
Up to the end of
2000, 172 countries ratified or acceded to the convention.