{"id":1829,"date":"2012-12-06T05:07:09","date_gmt":"2012-12-06T10:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=1829"},"modified":"2012-12-06T05:07:09","modified_gmt":"2012-12-06T10:07:09","slug":"doha-cop-report-wednesday-december-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2012\/12\/06\/doha-cop-report-wednesday-december-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Doha COP Report: Wednesday, December 5"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are now less than 48 hours until negotiations in Doha are scheduled to conclude, on the evening of Friday, December 7.\u00a0 While the President of this 18th<\/sup> Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UNFCCC remains confident that the negotiations will end on schedule, the feeling in the hallways is that talks are likely to go through the night on Friday, and into Saturday.<\/p>\n

For the past few days, the various subsidiary bodies and working groups in the UNFCCC process have been working hard to reach agreed outcomes, or at least to draft different options, which can form the basis for final decisions to taken by the COP or its equivalent for the Kyoto Protocol, the 8th<\/sup> Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) on Friday.\u00a0 In this COP Report, we provide a brief overview of some of the major issues that are yet to be resolved in these negotiations.<\/p>\n

One of the most polarizing issues being discussed in Doha is \u201closs and damage.\u201d\u00a0 In the context of the UNFCCC, \u201closs and damage\u201d is shorthand for the question of whether rich countries should compensate vulnerable communities for harm caused by climate change (or events linked to climate change).\u00a0 Negotiations on this topic have been some of the longest talks so far in Doha, including a meeting that reportedly ran for 26 hours.\u00a0 There are two options on the table, which represent stark alternatives.\u00a0 The first option, proposed by the G77, calls for the establishment of a new international mechanism to address this issue. While the details of such a mechanism remain undefined, it is understood that it would include a form of compensation.\u00a0 The second approach, supported by the US as well as Australia and other developed countries, suggests that loss and damage should be handled by the adaptation tools and bodies that already exist within the UNFCCC.<\/p>\n

Another area in which agreement is yet to be reached is in relation to amendments to the Kyoto Protocol, to create a second commitment period.\u00a0 At the close of informal consultations on this issue on Wednesday night (or more accurately, early Thursday morning), there were still several key elements of the second commitment period had yet to be finalized, including:<\/p>\n