Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2.1
International climate change agreements
1992
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
SignedattheUnitedNationsConferenceonEnvironmentandDevelopment(UNCED),
otherwiseknownastheEarthSummit,inRiodeJaneiro.
TheagreementaimedtostabilizeGHGemissionsintheatmospheretoavoiddangerous
climatechange.
1997
Kyoto Protocol - revised United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change
Establishedlegally-bindingGHGemissionreductionobligationsfordevelopedcountries.
Aviationwasexcludedfromemissionsinventories,butcountrieswereencouragedto
accountforaviationemissions.
2007
The Bali Climate Change Conference
Adoptedthe'BaliRoadMap'thatchartedthecourseforfurthernegotiationsforamore
comprehensiveagreementonclimatechange.
2009
United Nations Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen
TheCopenhagenAccordrecognizedtheneedtostabilizeGHGemissionssoglobal
temperatureriseremainsbelow2ºC,agreedtheneedtocutGHGemissionsand
establishedfundingtohelppoorernationstoadapttoclimatechange.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, agreed initially
at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and revised with the Kyoto
Protocol in 1997. The agreement signed in Rio aimed to stabilize GHG in the
atmosphere to avoid dangerous climate change, but the commitment to
reduce GHG emissions was non-binding. The Kyoto Protocol rectified this
and was ratified by over 166 countries, becoming legally binding in 2005.
However, the Kyoto Protocol was not ratified by a number of countries, most
notably the USA, and negotiations have continued to bind the USA into the
process. The Bali Climate Change Conference in December 2007 launched
negotiations for a more comprehensive agreement that was to be concluded
in December 2009 at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.
Negotiations at Copenhagen led to the Copenhagen Accord, an agreement
that was drawn up in the final hours by leaders from the USA, China, India,
Brazil and South Africa. The Accord recognized the need to stabilize GHG
emissions so that global temperature rise remains below 2ºC. It agreed the
need for cuts in emissions, and established that financial assistance would be
made available to assist the poorest nations' adaptation to climate change. It
is unclear, at the time of writing, whether many states will sign up to the
Accord.
At an international level the UNWTO first highlighted the importance of
climate change to tourism in 2003, when it convened the first international
conference on climate change and tourism in Djerba, Tunisia. Subsequently, a
second international conference on climate change and tourism was convened
in Davos, Switzerland in 2007. This acknowledged unequivocally that climate
change was happening and that the contribution of GHG emissions from the
tourism sector was a factor of concern. Among other things, the Davos report
recommended action to mitigate the climate change impacts that arise from
tourism. Recently, the UNWTO has collaborated with the World Economic
