Abstract
From the outset of negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or Convention), AOSIS urged the global community to focus on the plight of those countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of a changing climate system. While the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC focuses on the “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations” at a level which prevents dangerous human “interference with the climate system,” this objective is explicitly bounded by a timeframe that is based on adaptation parameters, i.e., the natural adaptation of ecosystems; maintaining global food production; and the continuation of sustainable economic development. The Bali Action Plan, negotiated in 2007 at COP 13 in Bali, Indonesia, marked a breakthrough on adaptation for AOSIS, with the clear separation it makes between the impact of the implementation of response measures and enhanced action on adaptation, a framing that has persisted under the UNFCCC to the present day. Despite the failure of the Copenhagen negotiations at COP 15 (2009), the Bali approach to adaptation led in 2010 to the establishment of the Cancun Adaptation Framework, the Adaptation Committee, the process for developing medium- to long-term national adaptation plans and the work program on loss and damage—each of which were outcomes strongly supported by AOSIS and depended on its close cooperation with the G77 and China. With the Paris Agreement, the issue of adaptation has been set legally “in stone” at the international level. And though the special needs and interests of individual members of the G77 and China add a seemingly insurmountable level of complexity to the equation of addressing adaptation, the rich history of positive change on adaptation that the joint effort of members of the G77 and China have managed to engineer is truly remarkable. AOSIS and its members are extremely proud of their contribution to the sum of this effort which is truly greater than its parts.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
See Verheyen (2005) for a history of the negotiation of the UNFCCC.
- 3.
See UN Document A/A.237/15, Report of the International Negotiating Committee, Fourth Session, Annex V available at https://undocs.org/en/a/ac.237/15.
- 4.
UNGA Resolution 45/212, paragraph 7 available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/45/a45r212.htm.
- 5.
See UNGA Resolution 44/207, Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind, paragraph 14 available at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r207.htm.
- 6.
UNFCCC, article 4.8.
- 7.
UNFCCC, article 2.
- 8.
Id.
- 9.
See UN Document A/AC.237/Misc.1/Add.3, Elements for a Framework Convention on Climate Change, proposed by Vanuatu on behalf of AOSIS (4 June 1991) available at https://undocs.org/en/a/ac.237/misc.1/add.3.
- 10.
See UNFCCC article 1.1, which does define the “adverse effects of climate change.”
- 11.
UNFCCC, article 4.1(e).
- 12.
UNFCCC, article 4.4.
- 13.
UNFCCC, article 4.8(h).
- 14.
See for e.g. Khan and Timmons Roberts (2013).
- 15.
Information about AOSIS is available at http://aosis.org/.
- 16.
See Khan and Timmons Roberts, above.
- 17.
UNFCCC, decision 11/CP.1, paragraph 1(d)(i).
- 18.
UNFCCC, decision 11/CP.1, paragraphs 1(d)(i)–(iv).
- 19.
UNFCCC, decision 11/CP.1, paragraph 1(e).
- 20.
Khan and Roberts.
- 21.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.7, paragraph 1.
- 22.
Description and relevant documents, available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/milesstones/wssd.
- 23.
UNFCCC decision 1/CP.7, preambular paragraph 4.
- 24.
UNFCCC decision 1/CP.7, paragraph 2.
- 25.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13.
- 26.
UNFCCC, decision 6/CP.7.
- 27.
UNFCCC, decision 7/CP.7.
- 28.
Id. It should be noted that the Special Climate Change Fund also covers the impact of the implementation of response measures.
- 29.
UNFCCC, decision 10/CP.7.
- 30.
Mace (2005).
- 31.
See, e.g., Möhner and Klein (2007).
- 32.
UNFCCC, decision 5/CP.7, paragraph 1.
- 33.
UNFCCC, decision 5/CP.7, paragraph 7.
- 34.
Id., paragraphs 33–37. The outcomes of these workshops are available at https://unfccc.int/topics/adaptation-and-resilience/events-meetings/related-to-5/cp7-1/cp10.
- 35.
The regional workshop for SIDS took the form of a two-part expert meeting on adaptation. Part I was held in Kingston, Jamaica, and Part II was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Workshop materials and documents are available at https://unfccc.int/event/sids-expert-meeting-adaptation.
- 36.
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol only entered into force in 2005, along with its first commitment period (2008–2012).
- 37.
A chronology of the NWP and access to its current work are available at https://unfccc.int/nwp.
- 38.
The TAR Synthesis Report is available at https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar3/syr/.
- 39.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.10 (Buenos Aires programme of work on adaptation and response measures), paragraph 23.
- 40.
UNFCCC, decision 2/CP.11, paragraph 1.
- 41.
Id. Annex.
- 42.
Id.
- 43.
Id.
- 44.
FCCC/SBSTA/2006/L.26, available at https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2006/sbsta/eng/l26.pdf.
- 45.
Report of COP 12, FCCC/CP/2006/5, paragraph 80 available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/docs/2006/cop12/eng/05.pdf#page=17.
- 46.
See UNFCCC, Article 9 for the role of the SBSTA.
- 47.
See UNFCCC, Article 10. The role of the SBI is to assess and review the effective implementation of the Convention.
- 48.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.10, paragraph 22.
- 49.
See report of SBI 29, paraphs 45–47, available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/docs/2008/sbi/eng/19.pdf#page=11.
- 50.
See report of SBSTA 29, FCCC/SBSTA/2008/13, paragraphs 17 and 19, available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/docs/2008/sbsta/eng/13.pdf#page=6.
- 51.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraph 1(c).
- 52.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.11.
- 53.
Id., paragraph 1.
- 54.
See the UNFCCC webpage on the Dialogue on long-term cooperative action under the Convention, available at //unfccc.int/process/conferences/pastconferences/montreal-climate-change-conference-december-2005/statements-and-resources/dialogue-on-long-term-cooperative-action-under-the-convention.
- 55.
IISD (2016). 2012 was significant as it was the year in which the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol came to an end.
- 56.
See UNFCCC webpage on the Bali Road Map, available at https://unfccc.int/process/conferences/the-big-picture/milestones/bali-road-map.
- 57.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraph 1(b)(iv).
- 58.
Id., paragraph 1(c).
- 59.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraph 1(c)(iv).
- 60.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraph 1(c)(i).
- 61.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraph 1(c)(v).
- 62.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.3, paragraph 1(c)(i).
- 63.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraph 1(c)(i).
- 64.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraphs 1(c)(ii) and (iii).
- 65.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraphs 1(d) and 1(e).
- 66.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.13, paragraph 1 (chapeau).
- 67.
All Party submissions up to COP 15 made in relation to the work of the Ad hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action are available at //unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/parties-non-party-stakeholders/parties/archive-of-party-submissions/previous-submissions-from-parties-to-the-awg-lca-2008-2011.
- 68.
See a compilation of submissions, available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/docs/2009/awglca6/eng/misc04p01.pdf.
- 69.
See a compilation of submissions, available at https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/docs/2009/awglca8/eng/misc08.pdf.
- 70.
G77 and China statements throughout 2007 demonstrate the priority of adaptation to its members, https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/docs/2009/awglca7/eng/misc06a01.pdf#page=20.
- 71.
UNFCCC, decision 2/CP.15.
- 72.
UNFCCC, decision 2/CP.15, Copenhagen Accord, paragraph 3.
- 73.
UNFCCC, decision 2/CP.15, Copenhagen Accord, paragraph 8. A collective short-term commitment to 2012 for developed countries of USD 30 billion and a longer term commitment of USD 100 billion/per year by 2020 are set out in this paragraph. The USD 100 commitment persists to this day and is enshrined in the COP 21 Paris outcomes.
- 74.
UNFCCC, decision 2/CP.15, Copenhagen Accord, paragraph 10.
- 75.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.16.
- 76.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.16, paragraph 12.
- 77.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.16, paragraph 20.
- 78.
Id.
- 79.
See, e.g., decisions 2/CP.17 and 11/CP.18.
- 80.
UNFCCC, decision 1/CP.16, paragraph 25.
- 81.
See Betzold et al. (2012).
- 82.
Paris Agreement, Article 7.2.
- 83.
Paris Agreement, Preamble, paragraph 5.
- 84.
AOSIS, 2015. AOSIS ministers lay out priorities ahead of week two (http://aosis.org/press-release-aosis-ministers-lay-out-priorities-ahead-of-week-two/).
- 85.
Paris Agreement, Article 7.
- 86.
Paris Agreement, Article 2, paragraph 1(b).
- 87.
Paris Agreement, Article 7, paragraph 1.
- 88.
Paris Agreement, Article 2, paragraph 1(a).
- 89.
- 90.
Paris Agreement, Article 7, paragraph 10.
- 91.
Paris Agreement, Article 7, paragraph 11.
- 92.
Paris Agreement, Article 7, paragraph 12.
- 93.
Paris Agreement, Article 7, paragraph 14(b).
- 94.
Paris Agreement, Article 9.4.
- 95.
Decision 1/CP.21, para. 114.
- 96.
IPCC, Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C, Chapter 3, Box 3.5.
- 97.
The NWP, which was adopted in 2005 at COP 11 by decision 2/CP.15, noting that the role of the SBSTA is to provide information and advice on scientific and technological matters (UNFCCC, Article 9). The SBI, on the other hand, assesses and reviews the effective implementation of the Convention (UNFCCC, Article 10).
- 98.
See Cancun Agreements, decision 1/CP.16, Enhanced action on adaptation, paragraphs 11–35.
- 99.
For example, it took eight years from adoption to ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
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UNFCCC, Dialogue on long term cooperative action under the Convention. https://unfccc.int/process/conferences/pastconferences/montreal-climate-change-conference-december-2005/statements-and-resources/dialogue-on-long-term-cooperative-action-under-the-convention
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Carruthers, P., Grey, O., Mahlung, C., Siegele, L. (2020). Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). In: Bueno Rubial, M., Siegele, L. (eds) Negotiating Climate Change Adaptation. Springer Climate. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41021-6_4
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