United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides the basis for global action "to protect the climate system for present and future generations". Negotiated between 1990 and 1992, the UNFCCC was adopted in May 1992 and opened for signatures a month later at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Australia ratified the Convention in December 1992 - one of the first countries to do so. The Convention entered into force in 1994 after a requisite 50 countries had ratified it. There are now 186 Parties to the UNFCCC - almost all of the members of the United Nations. Parties to the Convention have agreed to work towards achieving the Convention's ultimate aim of stabilising "greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - unfccc.int
- Full text of the Convention - unfccc.int/not_assigned/b/items/1417.php .
What are Australia's obligations under the UNFCCC?
Parties to the UNFCCC have a number of commitments under the convention, including:
- Submitting a national inventory of emissions and removals of greenhouse gases.
- Implementing national programmes to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts
- Strengthening scientific and technical research and systematic observation related to the climate system, and promoting the development and diffusion of relevant technologies.
- Promoting education programs and public awareness about climate change and its likely effects.
- Periodically submitting comprehensive National Communications (ie reports) on activities to implement commitments under the Convention. Australia's National Communications and in depth reviews of them prepared by international review teams, can be downloaded from the UNFCCC web site at unfccc.int/national_reports/annex_i_natcom/submitted_natcom/items/1395.php .
- Australia submitted its Fourth National Communication on Climate Change in December 2005.
- In October 2001 the Bureau of Meteorology submitted a detailed national report on Australia's systematic observation of climate - Australia's Global Climate Observing System
How does the UNFCCC operate?
Decisions under the UNFCCC are made on the basis of consensus according to current operating practice. This means that, rather than voting, Parties aim to reach agreement through discussion and negotiation. The main negotiating forum is sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP), which typically take place at ministerial level.
Parties also negotiate in the two subsidiary bodies of the UNFCCC, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). Other matters, such as the development of technical guidelines for implementing COP decisions, are dealt with at UNFCCC workshops.
The administration of the UNFCCC is the responsibility of a secretariat (unfccc.int/secretariat/items/1629.php ) based in Bonn, Germany. The UNFCCC secretariat is institutionally linked to the United Nations and is administered under UN Rules and Regulations. It is answerable to the COP and the subsidiary bodies, and has responsibility in three areas: executive direction, technical programmes and support services for the intergovernmental process.
