From Bangkok to Durban : Time to Act on Cancun Deal

From Bangkok to Durban : Time to Act on Cancun Deal

Background: The first round of UN climate change negotiations since the Cancun summit in December, being held in Bangkok from April 3-8, will start on the work plan agreed at Cancun for 2011. The aim of the meeting is to build on the Cancun agreements and to work towards establishing a new global climate change regime, to complement or replace the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period expires in late 2012.

Senior officials from governments and international and non-governmental organisations meeting in Bangkok hope to make progress on the crucial issue of establishing the Green Climate Fund, which will assist poor countries in adapting to the impacts of climate change and in developing their economies in a sustainable, climate friendly way. They will also discuss mechanisms to transfer technology to developing countries and enhanced action on adaptation.

IUCN, the world's largest conservation organization, will be in Bangkok for the negotiations, urging governments to recognize the ever-increasing need to manage nature better so that it helps people adapt to the impacts of climate change while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Ecosystems, such as wetlands, forests, and coastal habitats can provide robust natural buffers as protection from extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change," says Peter Neil, Coordinator, of IUCN Regional Forest Programme. "In areas like ours, prone to natural disasters and vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, people need urgent support from governments for nature-based solutions, such as growing coastal mangrove forests, and we need to move fast to implement these life-saving projects where they're needed most."

ENDS

© Scoop Media