Economic and Social Council

 Distr. GENERAL
4 April 1997
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Fifth session
7-25 April 1997
Item 4 of the provisional agenda *

     * E/CN.17/1997/1.


           PREPARATIONS FOR THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
           FOR THE PURPOSE OF AN OVERALL REVIEW AND APPRAISAL OF THE
                   IMPLEMENTATION OF AGENDA 21

   Contribution of the Conference of the Parties to the United
         Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

                  Note by the Secretary-General


    The Secretary-General has the honour to transmit to the Commission
on Sustainable Development, pursuant to General Assembly resolution
50/113, the contribution of the Conference of the Parties to the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.  The report
will also be made available to the General Assembly at its special
session.


                              Annex

   CONTRIBUTION ON THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE UNITED
         NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE


1.  The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), which was adopted in 1992, has received 165 instruments of
ratification or accession assuring almost universal membership of
States.

2.  The Convention was one of the key outcomes of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and its objectives
have a close relationship to the goals of sustainable development.  It
has linkages to the framework of Agenda 21, with relation to energy,
transport, industry, agriculture, forests, water and waste management.

3.  An important element in the global effort to address climate
change and its impacts is the open exchange of information on the
implementation of commitments of Parties under the Convention.  This
also contributes to developing international debate on longer-term
trends in consumption and production patterns, in accordance with
Agenda 21.  National communications are submitted so that Parties
inform each other of how they are meeting their commitments under the
Convention and describe their climate change programmes and how these
programmes will affect greenhouse gas emissions and sinks by the year
2000.

4.  In addition, the UNFCCC secretariat is mandated by the Parties to
the Convention to prepare a compilation and synthesis of the national
communications for consideration by them.  A second such compilation
and synthesis was submitted to the second session of the Conference of
the Parties (COP) in which it considered the national communications
of 33 Annex I Parties.  The document provides an overview of the
implementation of the Convention by reporting Parties, noting trends
and patterns, areas of convergence and divergence, data gaps and other
appropriate conclusions, including the overall effects of policies and
measures.  It demonstrated that while Annex I Parties are fulfilling
their commitments to the implementation of national policies and
measures on the mitigation of climate change, they need to make
additional efforts to overcome difficulties that they face in
achieving the aim of returning their emissions of greenhouse gases to
1990 levels by the year 2000.

5.  Another link to furthering the goals of sustainable development is
the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
whose Second Assessment Report is considered to be the most
comprehensive and authoritative assessment now available of the
scientific and technical information regarding global climate change. 
The IPCC has now initiated steps towards preparation of its Third
Assessment Report to develop a better objective scientific
understanding of issues related to climate change, its impacts and
possible response options.  This report is expected to enhance the
formulation of climate change policies in the context of sustainable
development.

6.  New initiatives for cooperative implementation, including
technology transfer and diffusion, between all Parties to the
Convention and with the major groups in civil society are also being
explored by the Parties of the UNFCCC.  Through these linkages the key
themes of Agenda 21 pertaining to integrated policy development,
citizen participation in decision-making, institutional and human
capacity-building and global partnerships involving many stakeholders,
are being addressed by the UNFCCC.

7.  The UNFCCC has also taken first steps to deal with the continued
rise of emissions and concentrations of greenhouse gases.  The Berlin
Mandate agreed by the first Conference of the Parties is the basis for
considerable efforts under way in the Ad hoc Group on the Berlin
Mandate (AGBM).  The COP, at its second session, called, inter alia,
for acceleration of negotiations of the text of a protocol, or another
legal instrument which would fully encompass the remit of the Berlin
Mandate.  The General Assembly, at its special session, may wish to
encourage Member States to agree on a satisfactory result of these
negotiations at the third session of the COP, scheduled to be held in
Kyoto in December 1997.

8.  Steps are being taken by developing country Parties to prepare
their initial communication of information related to implementation. 
The Global Environment Facility (GEF), as the interim operating entity
of the financial mechanism of the Convention, is supporting developing
country Parties in implementing their commitments by funding enabling
activities such as planning and endogenous capacity-building.  The
Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) called on the GEF to provide
expeditious and timely support to these Parties and initiate work
towards a full replenishment in 1997.

9.  Further international action in the implementation of Agenda 21
will help to involve the whole international community in promoting
the effective implementation of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change.

10. Noting the relevant provisions of Agenda 21 relating to the
transfer of environmentally sound technology, cooperation and
capacity-building, the COP at its first and second sessions took
decisions related to these issues.  The General Assembly may also wish
to pay special attention to the transfer of technology.


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Date last posted: 10 December 1999 17:25:35
Comments and suggestions: DESA/DSD