The latest climate change negotiations ended with eleventh-hour agreements on adaptation and response measures, and on a new seminar arranged in view of heated discussions on how and when to begin talks about future commitments.

The tenth Conference of the Parties (COP-10) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the twenty-first sessions of the COP’s subsidiary bodies convened at La Rural Exhibition Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 6-18 December 2004.
Post-Kyoto Commitments Create Controversy:The well-attended meeting, which attracted over 6100 participants, went 17 hours beyond its scheduled finish as delegates struggled to agree on how to engage on commitments to combat climate change in the post-2012 period (the Kyoto Protocol sets emissions targets for the years 2008-2012). This was a particularly difficult issue because of reported sensitivities on the part of various countries. While the Kyoto deal requires Parties to begin considering the post-2012 period by 2005, this raised the thorny issue of how to include non-Parties. Having rejected the Kyoto treaty and its emissions commitments, the US was reportedly wary of talks on subsequent commitments, while some developing countries seemed determined not to entertain negotiations that might result in calls to extend emissions commitments to countries not covered by Kyoto. As a result, delegates struggled behind closed doors over the issue of exactly when and how to discuss future commitments. After a night of intense consultations, delegates finally agreed to hold one seminar in 2005 that would not open negotiations leading to new commitments.
While it is clear that some Parties are not yet ready to start on post-2012 negotiations, some observers have noted that the text did not preclude the initiation of such discussions on the basis of the seminar’s outcomes. Environmental groups expressed disappointment at the outcome, however, accusing the US and Saudi Arabia of weakening the final deal so it included only one seminar, rather than several. Greenpeace alleged that such US “bullying” meant there would be little opportunity for progress in talks on emissions cuts during the next twelve months.
Eleventh-hour Adaptation Package Agreed: Another major issue at COP-10 concerned the more prominent role of adaptation. With new evidence, such as the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, pointing to the increasing impacts of climate change, a number of delegations were pushing for further support on adaptation for vulnerable countries such as small island developing States and least developed countries. The debate was complicated by demands from some oil-producing countries for similar assistance in adapting to a world that is being urged to respond to climate change by curtailing its fossil fuel use. The final adaptation package agreed Saturday morning—the Buenos Aires Programme of Work on Adaptation and Response Measures—supports further implementation of measures to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change, while also addressing calls for economic diversification for countries affected by the global community’s “response measures” to deal with climate change. However, the world’s least developed countries failed to secure agreement on full-cost funding for adaptation through the Global Environment Facility.
As well as the agreement on a 2005 seminar and adaptation package, Parties also addressed and adopted numerous decisions and conclusions on issues such as technology transfer, land-use change and forestry, the Convention’s financial mechanism, and education, training and public awareness. Some issues were not resolved, and will be taken up again in 2005. These include negotiations on the least developed countries fund, special climate change fund, national communications from developing country (non-Annex I) Parties, and Protocol Article 2.3 (adverse effects of policies and measures).
The conference also included four high-level panel discussions, three in-session workshops, and more than 90 side events. With Russia’s recent ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and the treaty’s imminent entry into force, discussions in these side events took place within a much more certain policy process. Side events dealt with issues ranging from emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism to reviews of accomplishments of the UNFCCC process. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin summary and analysis, and an analysis of the side events.