The May edition of the UNFCCC Newsletter opens with a message from Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, who underscores tha the May session is the "first formal opportunity for governments to take forward and build on the Durban outcomes," especially in view of meeting agreed deadlines for the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UNFCCC in Doha, Qatar.
11 May 2012: The UNFCCC Secretariat has released the May issue of its Newsletter, which focuses on the Bonn Climate Change Conference that will take place from 14-25 May 2012, in Germany. It provides an overview of the key issues to be addressed by negotiators at the meeting relating to adaptation, mitigation, finance, capacity building and technology.
The newsletter opens with a message from Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, who underscores that the May session is the “first formal opportunity for governments to take forward and build on the Durban outcomes,” especially in view of meeting agreed deadlines for the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the UNFCCC in Doha, Qatar. She calls for completing urgent tasks “as soon as possible,” and to “bridge any gaps and give us a robust start towards an effective 2015 agreement.” Figueres also stresses that the May meeting can lay a solid foundation from which to move forward towards COP 18 and “set a positive tone of international cooperation on the very threshold of Rio+20.”
On mitigation, the newsletter highlights that three workshops on mitigation are expected to continue to serve as fora for presenting and discussing information on mitigation actions under the Convention of both developing and developed country Parties in the individual work streams. On adaptation, the newsletter notes that discussions during May session to build on recent progress for National Adaptation Plans. On finance, it focuses on the Green Climate Fund, stressing that Germany, Mexico, Namibia, Poland, the Republic of Korea and Switzerland have offered to host the Fund. The newsletter also notes that three proponents, namely a consortia led by the UN Environment Programme, the Global Environment Facility, and Det Norske Veritas AS, have been shortlisted as Climate Technology Center host, and that the Durban Forum on Capacity Building will hold its inaugural meeting in May.
The newsletter also reports that Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Chairman of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority of the state of Qatar, has been nominated for the role of President-Designate of COP 18 and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP 8). [Publication: UNFCCC Newsletter May 2012]