2 October 2011: Speaking during the UN Climate Change Conference in Panama City, Panama, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres welcomed the recognition by governments of the need to speed up and scale up their efforts to address climate change, and that to ensure a successfull outcome in Durban at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UNFCCC, the Panama talks need to conclude with the adoption of draft decisions.

Figueres identified three types of issues under the climate change negotiations, namely: those which were already agreed in Cancun; those that have been under design and will be ready for Durban to move them further forward; and those that need new decisions to progress.

She called for a focus in Panama on agreement to strengthen the systems for measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) countries’ climate efforts in order to ensure international accountability and transparency. She further urged governments to decide two critical questions over the future of the Kyoto Protocol and the future of the broader climate regime going forward. The UN Climate Change Conference in Panama City, Panama, is meeting from 1-7 October 2011; it is the last formal negotiating session of the year designed to prepare for COP 17. [UNFCCC Press Release] [IISD RS Coverage] [UN Press Release]