Key facts of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international agreement aimed at curbing global greenhouse emissions and addressing negative influences of global warming on human economy and society.
It is also a basic framework for the international communities to cooperate to address the global climate change.
The Convention was adopted in 1992 in Brazil and entered into force on March 21, 1994.
Currently, there are 194 parties, or 193 countries and 1 regional organization, to the Convention.
"Human activities have been substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases," says the Convention.
These increases, according to the Convention, "enhance the natural greenhouse effect, and will result on average in an additional warming of the earth's surface and atmosphere and may adversely affect natural ecosystems and humankind."
The Convention pointed out that since the largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases has originated in developed countries, and per capita emissions in developing countries are still relatively low, the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" should be observed in addressing climate change.
According to this principle, developed countries should take the lead in combating climate change and provide financial resources, including transfer of technology, for developing countries. With the funds and technological support provided, developing countries need to adopt measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change, according to the convention.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the "supreme body" of the Convention, that is, its highest decision-making authority. The COP usually meets every year in Bonn, Germany, the seat of the secretariat, unless Parties decide otherwise or a Party offers to host the session.
The first session of the COP was held on March 28, 1995 in Bonn.
The third session of the COP held in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997, adopted the Kyoto Protocol, a key supplementary agreement to the UNFCCC, which stipulates such details as the types of greenhouse gases subject to emission reduction and the timetable and the concrete margin of emissions reduction for major industrial countries and developed countries.
The UNFCCC established two permanent subsidiary bodies: the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI).
At its 13th session in 2007, the COP decided to launch a subsidiary body under the UNFCCC, the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA).
At its 15th session in 2009, the COP, extended the mandate of the AWG-LCA to enable it to continue its work with a view to presenting the outcome of its work to the COP for adoption at its sixteenth session, which will be held in Mexico late this year.
The ultimate goal of the UNFCCC is to achieve "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."
