COP18 President: Doha Agreement a "Gateway to the Future"

Doha, December 08 (QNA) - HE Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Chairman of the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, has described the "Doha Climate Gateway" declaration as a gateway to a better future and beyond the year 2022. HE The President of COP18/CMP8 said, in a joint press conference on Saturday evening with the UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres hailed the agreement reached after two-weeks of negotiations as a "Gateway to the future". He said that the final agreement of the conference was the result of strenuous efforts of all parties continued for two weeks. Al Attiyah said the final extra day of the UN Climate Change Conference had been historic as all parties had reached consensus despite complications and many hours of extra consultation. The "Doha Climate Gateway", Al-Attiyah said, marked the beginning of discussions on a universal, legally-binding international agreement on emission reductions, which should be ratified in 2015 and come into force in 2020. He said the presidency of the Conference consulted all groups such as the 77 group and China, the BASIC group and small island developing states, all of which have supported this decision and approved it in the end. "In the end, we reached this declaration," he said. While calling for the respect of the Doha declaration "Doha Climate Gateway", he said it was a result of a democratic path of consultations leading to the opinion of the majority. Replaying to a question on Russia's objection to the adopted decisions, Al Attiyah said the adopted decisions reflected the will of all parties. "We listened to all parties' comments and suggestions, including the Russian side. The President, and the Secretariat and the whole team conducted two-weeks of comprehensive negotiations. And we asked all parties to submit their suggestions as well as review drafts before the final wording, and we also asked them write down their notes on the protocol. Accordingly, none can say that we did not take their notes into consideration." "This was a historic COP," the UNFCCC Executive Secretary said and while she accepted that governments alone could not be expected to take solve the climate change crisis she said: "What needs to change now is political will." She added: "We need the corporate sector to play a part and to contribute." The UN has endorsed a target of restricting global temperature rises to less than 2 degrees Celsius but Figueres said "the window is closing in on us". She stressed that the world had the finance and the technical knowledge to tackle the issue but governments needed to take decisive action. Figueres said that the significance of the Doha agreement was that it was a bridge between the original Kyoto Protocol, which was drawn up in 1997 and expires at the end of this year, and the next protocol, which was agreed in principle in Durban (the Durban platform) last year and is due to be signed in 2015. Asked whether it was realistic to feel optimistic when nations such as the United States, Canada and Japan were not part of KP, she said that was not a hindrance because there was now "100 per cent agreement" by nations on the need to cut emissions. In Doha, she said, all countries had agreed to produce a document detailing their reduced carbon emissions six months in advance of the 2015 COP. When Kyoto was drawn up the target was for carbon reduction of 5 per cent. In Doha the participating countries had raised that figure to 18 percent, she said. "Current pledges are clearly not enough to guarantee the temperature will stay below the 2 degrees increase," she acknowledged, and went on to stress the importance of the Doha Gateway. It had "ensured environmental integrity and a robust accounting system. No country has said it will not take part, even if it has left the Kyoto Protocol." Figueres also praised the conference for making a start in building up the Green Climate Fund, which will be used to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. (END)