COP 18: local and regional authorities take part to climate change discussions

The 2012 UN Climate Change Conference, COP 18 opens in Doha, Qatar, on Monday 26 November at the Qatar National Convention Centre and will continue until 7 December, with the participation of near 200 countries. 

The climate negotiations have seen little progress since COP 15 in Copenhagen. However, last year in Durban (COP 17), Member States agreed to continue yearly negotiations to achieve an agreement on a new treaty by 2015.

In Doha, negotiators will focus on the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol (first phase coming to end by the end of 2012) , which fixed emissions’ reduction targets for industrialized countries, and trying to raise the funding needed to help developing countries adapt to a changing climate.

The local and regional authorities will be attending the meetings through Local Governments and Municipal Authorities’ constituency (LGMA) and within national delegations. UCLG climate negotiation group will be represented by Ronan Dantec, French Senator and Councilor of Nantes. ICLEI and nrg4SD are in attendance with relevant delegations of cities and regions’ representatives.

You can find daily coverage of the negotiations, available in English, French, Arabic and Japanese, undertaken by IISD, here: http://www.iisd.ca/climate/cop18/