CATscience - Climate and Alternative Temperature science: UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

192 countries around the world have joined an international treaty that sets general goals and rules for confronting climate change.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Convention has the goal of preventing "dangerous" human interference with the climate system.

Bodies of the Framework Convention, actors in the negotiation process, and the UNFCCC Secretariat. The functioning of the Convention depends on a series of groups and agencies. They operate at the centre of a lively debate.

The Rio Conventions. The UNFCCC was one of three conventions adopted at the 1992 "Rio Earth Summit." The others -- the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention to Combat Desertification -- involve matters strongly affected by climate change. Attempts are being made to coordinate the work of the three agreements.

What Can Be Done

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What Can Be Done

Measures -- heavily dependent on teamwork and political will -- can slow the rate of global warming and help the world cope with the climate shifts that occur.

Reducing emissions. Burning oil and coal more efficiently, switching to renewable forms of energy, such as solar and wind power, and developing new technologies for industry and transport can attack the problem at the source.

Expanding forests. Trees remove carbon dioxide, the dominant greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere. The more we have, the better. But deforestation -- the current trend -- liberates additional carbon and makes global warming worse.

Changing lifestyles and rules. The cultures and habits of millions of people -- essentially, whether they waste energy or use it efficiently -- have a major impact on climate change. So do government policies and regulations.

Coping. Steps have to be taken -- and the sooner the better -- to limit damage from consequences of global warming that are now inevitable.

Accomplishments to date. . . and problems. A side effect of the painful economic transition in Eastern Europe was a slight fall in greenhouse-gas emissions among the world's major economies between 1990 and 2000. But making more sustained progress will require overcoming a number of obstacles.

Climate Change Science - UNFCCC

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Climate Change Science

Human activity -- particularly the burning of fossil fuels -- has made the blanket of greenhouse gases around the earth "thicker." The resulting increase in global temperatures is alterating the complex web of systems that allow life to thrive on earth, such as cloud cover, rainfall, wind patterns, ocean currents, and the distribution of plant and animal species.

The greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle. More of the sun's energy is being trapped in the atmosphere, and much more of the world's carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) is resting in the air rather than in trees, soil, and subterranean deposits.

Current evidence of climate change. Some consequences of global warming are already apparent.

Future effects. The complexity of the climate system means predictions vary widely, but even the minimum changes forecast could mean frequently flooded coastlines, disruptions to food and water supplies, and the extinction of many species.

The Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change. An international group of experts formed in 1988 reviews scientific research and offers assessments of climate change and its effects.

Feeling the Heat - UNFCCC

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Feeling the Heat

Introduction

The average temperature of the earth's surface has risen by 0.74 degrees C since the late 1800s. It is expected to increase by another 1.8° C to 4° C by the year 2100 - a rapid and profound change - should the necessary action not be taken. Even if the minimum predicted increase takes place, it will be larger than any century-long trend in the last 10,000 years.

The principal reason for the mounting thermometer is a century and a half of industrialization: the burning of ever-greater quantities of oil, gasoline, and coal, the cutting of forests, and the practice of certain farming methods.

These activities have increased the amount of "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Such gases occur naturally - they are critical for life on earth, they keep some of the sun's warmth from reflecting back into space, and without them the world would be a cold and barren place. But in augmented and increasing quantities, they are pushing the global temperature to artificially high levels and altering the climate. Eleven of the last 12 years are the warmest on record, and 1998 was the warmest year.

Climate change can be difficult - you could ask the dinosaurs, if they weren't extinct. The prevailing theory is that they didn't survive when a giant asteroid struck the earth 65 million years ago, spewing so much dust into the air that sunlight was greatly reduced, temperatures plummeted, many plants didn't grow and the food chain collapsed.

What happened to the dinosaurs is a rare example of climate change more rapid than humans are now inflicting on themselves. . . but not the only one. Research on ice cores and lake sediments shows that the climate system has suffered other abrupt fluctuations in the distant past. The climate appears to have "tipping points" that can send it into sharp lurches and rebounds. Although scientists are still analyzing what happened during those earlier events, it's clear that an overstressed world with 6.3 billion people is a risky place to be carrying out uncontrolled experiments with the climate.

The current warming trend is expected to cause extinctions. Numerous plant and animal species, already weakened by pollution and loss of habitat, are not expected to survive the next 100 years. Human beings, while not threatened in this way, are likely to face mounting difficulties. Recent severe storms, floods and droughts, for example, appear to show that computer models predicting more frequent "extreme weather events" are on target.

The average sea level rose by 10 to 20 cm during the 20th century, and an additional increase of 18 to 59 cm is expected by the year 2100. (Higher temperatures cause ocean volume to expand, and melting glaciers and ice caps add more water.) If the higher end of that scale is reached, the sea could overflow the heavily populated coastlines of such countries as Bangladesh, cause the disappearance of some nations entirely (such as the island state of the Maldives), foul freshwater supplies for billions of people, and spur mass migrations.

Agricultural yields are expected to drop in most tropical and sub-tropical regions - and in temperate regions too - if the temperature increase is more than a few degrees C. Drying of continental interiors, such as central Asia, the African Sahel, and the Great Plains of the United States, is also forecast. These changes could cause, at a minimum, disruptions in land use and food supply. And the range of diseases such as malaria may expand.

Global warming is a "modern" problem - complicated, involving the entire world, tangled up with difficult issues such as poverty, economic development and population growth. Dealing with it will not be easy. Ignoring it will be worse.

Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty - the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty, called the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The Protocol’s first commitment period began in 2008 and ends in 2012. A strong multilateral framework needs to be in place by 2009 to ensure that there is no gap between the end of the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period in 2012 and the entry into force of a future regime.

The (UNFCCC) Convention and the (Kyoto) Protocol

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The Convention and the Protocol

Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty -- the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) -- to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process, particularly the COP, the subsidiary bodies and their Bureau.

Kyoto Protocol -- What it means

The Kyoto Protocol, an international and legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, entered into force on 16 February 2005.