APPROXIMATELY 10,000 representatives from 156 countries have assembled in Montreal, Canada, for the first United Nations Climate Change Conference since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The conference began on Monday.
Signatories to the protocol, which took effect in February this year, are bound to devise and implement measures to reduce emission levels between 2008 and 2012.
The parties to the Kyoto Protocol are expected to adopt a set of decisions critical to completing the 'rule book' of the protocol. The 156-member party is expected to agree on steps to strengthen the clean development mechanism, a tool designed under the protocol to support sustainable development projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. The United Nations Climate Change Secretariat will be showcasing such projects at the conference.
However, in light of the effects global warming is currently having on the environment across the globe, a five-year work programme on adaptation will be launched.
Jamaica, represented by The Gleaner, will join media representatives from South Africa, Mexico, Russia, China, India, Egypt, Indonesia, New Zealand and Argentina who have been invited to cover the conference by the Canadian Government. The conference will end on December 9.
