Source: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/earth-hour/copenhagen-the-worlds-big-chance-20090409-a1r6.html

دوستانی که علاقمند هستند به طور خلاصه اطلاعاتی در مورد اجلاس پیش رو در کپنهاگن و تاریخچه ان به دست آورد می توانند در مطلب ذیل خلاصه ای از آن را مطالعه نمایند. 

Leaders from across the globe are poised to set the most important emissions targets yet, writes Simon Webster.

The eyes of the world will be on Copenhagen from December 7 to 18 as nations gather for their annual meeting to discuss the United Nations climate change convention.

This year's meeting is particularly important because it is regarded by some as the last chance to set greenhouse gas emissions targets in time to replace those laid down by the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012. With climatologists making increasingly dire warnings about the pace of climate change, organisers of movements such as Earth Hour hope the delegates will agree to set strong targets before it is too late.

WHAT IS IT?

Otherwise known as COP 15 (the 15th annual Conference of the Parties), the Copenhagen meeting brings together the 192 countries that have ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Observer states and observers from the United Nations system also will be present, along with other approved observers.

WHAT'S THE UNFCCC?

The UNFCCC was signed at the UN summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Its goals are to stabilise the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a level that prevents man-made climate change. One of the tools the parties have agreed on is the Kyoto Protocol.

WHAT'S THE KYOTO PROTOCOL?

The protocol imposes legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions on a number of industrialised nations. It was adopted at COP 3 in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. However, it wasn't until 2005 that it was ratified by the 55 nations necessary to make it come into force. Today, 184 parties to the UNFCCC have ratified the protocol, including Australia, which ratified it in December 2007, shortly after Kevin Rudd became prime minister.

The US still has not ratified the protocol.

WHAT TARGETS DOES IT SET?

The protocol imposes emissions reductions on 37 industrialised countries and the European Union (EU), also known as Annex I countries. China, India and other developing countries were not given binding targets because historically they had not been the main contributors to emissions.

The EU's target is an 8 per cent reduction on its 1990 emissions levels, to be measured over 2008-12. The US's target is a 7 per cent reduction and New Zealand's 0 per cent. Australia's target is an 8 per cent increase, which it is expected to easily achieve. Our government argued for an increase because our resource-based economy produces more emissions than most countries.

The targets for all industrialised nations add up to an overall reduction of emissions by 5.2 per cent.

Countries that fail to meet their emissions reduction targets may be penalised after 2012.

WHAT'S HAPPENING BEFORE THE MEETING?

The Bali Action Plan, agreed at COP 13 in Bali, urged strong action on climate change and started the ball rolling on a new, post-Kyoto agreement.

Working groups have been holding negotiating sessions every few months since to try to hammer out a deal that will be acceptable to delegates at COP 15. Negotiations will intensify as COP 15 approaches.

WHAT WILL BE DISCUSSED?

As well as setting new targets for Annex I countries and nutting out the complex details of how the scheme will be implemented, a key issue will be agreeing what cuts must be made by developing countries. India and China, for example, are big emitters (China is the world's biggest) but some argue they should be allowed to develop further and improve their people's standard of living before big cuts on their output are imposed.

How poor countries will pay for the fight against climate change also needs to be addressed. They will need money for environmentally sustainable technology and to pay for the effects of extreme weather events.

There is also the question of how they should be compensated for not clearing forests.

WHAT TARGETS HAVE COUNTRIES SET?

Since Kyoto, many nations have set their own emissions targets.

Australia has committed to a 2020 target of a reduction of between 5 per cent and 15 per cent on 2000 levels (that equates to 4 per cent to 14 per cent below 1990 levels), and a 2050 target of a 60 per cent reduction on 2000 emission levels.

The EU has committed to 20 per cent to 30 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 60 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050. In the US, President Barack Obama has proposed a 0 per cent cut on 1990 levels by 2020 and an 80 per cent cut by 2050.

In its latest five-year plan, China has set a goal of reducing per capita emissions by 4 per cent a year from this year.