Some attending UN officials said the Bangkok talks will prove easier in terms of atmosphere than the Bali conference, as it is just start of negotiations based on the just drafted Bali Road Map(BRM), on the way towards a new global cooperation strategy for combating climate change after the first commitment period of Kyoto Protocol expires by the end of 2012, and supposedly more technical-oriented.
The Bangkok meeting is expected to draw out a clear working plan for negotiations in less than two years before the Copenhagen conference scheduled in December next year produces the new treaty to allow enough time for governments of the Parties ratify by 2012.
Three more UN-sponsored meetings and conferences will take place between Bangkok and Copenhagen.
According to the latest report by the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), between 1979 and2004, emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have increased by 70 percent, among them CO2 by 80 percent. The IPCC suggests that emissions need to be reduced by well more than half from current level by 2050 and more actions be taken to fight climate change if the world want to avoid severe negative impacts on environment, economy and other aspects in human society to realize as scientists have warned, including rise in global temperature by about three degrees, shortages in food and water, rising seas levels and more intense and frequent extreme weather events.
To avoid that scenario, the industrialized countries will be required to cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent during the second commitment period by 2020 under the Kyoto Protocol framework.
Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the industrialized countries have committed to reducing emissions by a minimum of five percent by 2012 from 1990 levels. These group of rich countries can meet their commitments through domestic actions and international market mechanism like carbon-trade and clean development mechanism(CDM).
(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2008)
