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Australian Embassy, Lisbon
Press Release - 23 October 2007
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Australia to Join Key Climate Change Negotiations
Australia is to play a key role in shaping a new international strategy for combating climate change, to succeed the 10-year-old Kyoto Protocol.
Australia is among 37 countries meeting this week in Bogor, Indonesia, to set the direction for the United Nations conference on climate change, which will be held in Bali in December.
The Bali meeting will continue the work of designing a new international agreement to succeed the 10-year-old Kyoto Protocol. Australia’s invitation to participate in this week’s meeting is a demonstration of our international standing and experience in climate change diplomacy.
The Bali meeting will build on the momentum created by the landmark Sydney Declaration, negotiated by Australia in September, which included an unprecedented agreement among developed and developing nations.
The Australian delegation for the Bogor meeting will be led by Australia’s Ambassador to the United Nations in New York and former federal Environment Minister, the Hon Robert Hill. The delegation will also include Australia’s Ambassador for the Environment, and the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Water Resources.
Indonesia is convening the Bogor talks in advance of the thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Bali on 3-14 December. It has become established practice for the host of the Conference to call such a meeting, providing an opportunity for frank discussions among key countries in the lead-up to the main event in which 191 countries participate. Australia has always participated in these preparatory discussions reflecting our engagement in the UN climate change process and our role as permanent chair of the Umbrella Group, a negotiating bloc of important non-EU developed countries.
Australia hopes to see comprehensive negotiations launched in Bali designed to build a future framework on climate change which includes all major emitters, rather than the 30 per cent of global emissions covered by the Kyoto targets.
It will also be important that the negotiations address the issues of deforestation and forest management – areas in which Australia is also taking a leading role through out Global Initiative on Forests and Climate.