The young activists at the site of climate negotiations were handcuffed and made to sit in rows that ran deep, on a wet, muddy field in freezing temperatures. The chant was meant for the international television crew present in great numbers. That was the exact mood among the international activists outside the negotiating process.
An agreement on reducing emissions from avoided deforestation and degradation at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties 15 (COP 15) in Copenhagen December 2010 was not forthcoming. For a number of reasons this is a welcome outcome as several important outstanding legal and technical issues remain unresolved. This article examines the results from COP 15 including the Copenhagen Accord.
Amidst debates between the North and the South, Emission Trading (ET), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JI) were adopted as flexible mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol. These mechanisms allow developed countries to meet their emission reduction targets by investing in clean projects in other countries of their choice.
This report begin with a discussion of the dynamics between developing and developed countries that have influenced the debates. This is then followed with a description of the financial mechanisms, requirement for short and long-term funds, and problems with the current institutional arrangements.
While only a limited number of Non-Annex I Parties have made submissions in response to the Copenhagen Accord, the proportion of these that included agriculture may be an indicator that agriculture is likely to become an important component of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in developing countries.
When parties and observers arrived in Copenhagen last December (2009), for two weeks of intense negotiations, it was already clear that no legally binding agreement was expected to be
