Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
state. A majority of two-thirds is suffi cient, if it contains the majority of both
the developing and the developed nations. This implies that even if a state
objects to a certain adjustment, it is legally bound to it if the decision is made
in accordance with the majority rules. This has accelerated the schedules for
elimination of CFC compounds.
The parties have made some amendments to the regime, for instance, to
establish the fi nancing mechanism, the Multilateral Fund - a mechanism sepa-
rate from the existing fi nancing institutions and directly connected to the
motivation of the developing nations to observe the treaty; they receive tech-
nological and fi nancial assistance if they have acted according to the rapidly
developing ozone regime. The developing nations have been given an option
to continue the use of ozone-depleting substances for longer, so that they do
not have to have acquired expensive substitutes. The parties also made amend-
ments to secure that they did not import ozone-depleting substances from or
export them to states outside the Convention.
The climate regime
The adoption of the climate regime was preceded by the establishment of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 by the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Environment Programme
(UNEP). Although the IPCC preceded the climate regime and is not offi cially
part of it, the four assessment reports it has published to date have been deci-
sive in attaining scientifi c consensus about climate change, and each one of
them has resulted in political action.
Some offi cials say that the Framework Convention on Climate Change was
negotiated too quickly because the negotiation process was integrated as part
of the Rio Environment Conference. As the Rio Conference required many
'achievements' by the summer of 1992, the negotiations took place in a hurry
and at a stage when there was still not much knowledge about climate change.
The fi rst assessment of climate change by the IPCC had only been published
two years previously, in 1990.
In any case, the outcome was the 1992 Framework Convention on
Climate Change, which did not require much even from the industrial coun-
tries: they undertook politically to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to
1990 levels by 2000. What was important was that the basic elements of the
climate regime were agreed on. Every country is obliged to take measures to
achieve the main objective - to prevent dangerous human-induced climate
change - but only the industrial countries (mainly OECD members) listed in
Annex I undertook more detailed obligations. Except for the listed countries,
all other countries and transition economies were allowed to continue with
lesser obligations. This arrangement closely refl ected the Rio compromise
between the interests and obligations of the rich North and the poor South;
an essential component was the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities.
 
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