| Lights and Shadows at the Cancun Conference |
| 20 December 2010 |
|
COP16/CMP6
The United Nations Climate Change Conference, which took place in Cancun, Mexico from November 29 to December 10, 2010, encompassed the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP). After the failure of the Copenhagen meeting, 2009, the conference succeeded in finding a widely shared agreement on climate change, which nevertheless raises conflicting feelings in the global community. The document signed after twelve days of intense debate for the first time commits all the major economies to reducing emissions, but not enough to meet their promise of keeping the rise in global temperature under 2°C. Moreover, for the first time, developing countries also agreed to look at how they can cut emissions in the future, but without making any pledges. The agreement aims to prevent deforestation, promote the transfer of low-carbon technologies to developing countries and, by 2020, establish a green fund to help the more vulnerable countries in tackling climate change consequences. No figure however, was given on how much money it would provide. All things considered, the fact that an agreement was signed is a success in itself, even if the document leaves all the most difficult decisions to the post Kyoto and on emission reductions to next year’s meeting in Durban, South Africa. It was encouraging to see the countries working to find a consensus on climate change but if the global temperature rise is really to be contained, next year the Durban summit will have to turn Cancun's compromise into a real action plan." |
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