Tiempo Climate Newswatch

The Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol met in Bonn, Germany from 17-25th May. This body focuses on further measures to be taken by industrialized countries for the period after 2012 when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends. Delegates agreed to a roadmap to set new targets beyond 2012, but with no timetable for decisions on the level of the reductions. "This [agreement] makes clear... that the outcome of this process will be a new set of quantitative caps," said Michael Zammit Cutajar, who is leading the process. "This is a new phase in the life of the Protocol."

The post-2012 view will have an economic and scientific underpinning, based on the forthcoming Stern Review on the economics of climate change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 review of climate science. Richard Kinley, acting head of the climate treaty secretariat said: "Developing countries, which will be hit hardest by climate change, are pushing for rapid agreement on deeper emission cuts. This is the message we have also been hearing from business leaders meeting here in Bonn, who have underlined the importance of a speedy process from their perspective. Obviously, the carbon market needs clear signals."

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• NEWS.com.au
• Reuters
• Press release, UNFCCC

• Closing press conference (video on demand), UNFCCC
• Closing press conference (video on demand), CAN International
• Earth Negotiations Bulletin, daily reports
• On the Web: The climate negotiations

Fiji has been selected as the pilot country for a series of projects that will help the tourist sector respond to the threat of climate change. "Addressing the impact of climate change on Small Island Developing States has become a priority, given the heavy dependence of their economies on tourism, their high level of vulnerability and their relatively low adaptive capacity," said Programme Officer Gabor Vereczi in the Sustainable Development of Tourism Department of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). "Basic adaptation measures, such as early warning systems and preparedness for cyclones, or the better use of climate information provided by national meteorological services can make a huge difference in preventing and mitigating climate-related risks and hazards," he continued.

Napolioni Masirewa of the Fijian Ministry of Tourism said the work should "provide much needed support to develop a risk management and response strategy for tourism to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change. We hope it will reduce the vulnerability of the tourism sector, and in doing so enhance the sustainability of the natural resources and the quality of life of the people of Fiji." The projects will be coordinated by the UNWTO with the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme. They are financed by the Global Environment Facility. A conference on Building Tourism Resilience in Small Island Developing States will be held in Nassau in the Bahamas 7-9th June 2006.

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• Press release, UN

• Press release, UNWTO

An Australian government report has concluded that global warming could be occurring faster than previously thought and could exceed previous predictions. "The impacts of a changing climate are beginning to emerge," according to the report, Stronger Evidence But New Challenges: Climate Change Science 2001-2005. "High temperature extremes, such as the August 2003 heatwave in central Europe that had severe impacts on human health, are becoming more common," it observes. The report was launched by Environment Minister Ian Campbell. He also announced that Australia was on target to meet its greenhouse gas emissions targets of 108 per cent of 1990 emissions by 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol, which Australia has not ratified.

A team of European scientists warns that climate models may have underestimated the extent of global warming as an important feedback may have not been given due weight. As the planet warms, additional carbon is released from decomposing soils and from the oceans. Estimating the effect from ice core evidence, the team concludes that it could boost the rise in global temperature by between 15 and 78 per cent. According to Marten Scheffer of Wageningen University in the Netherlands, "although there are still significant uncertainties, our simple data-based approach is consistent with the latest climate-carbon cycle models, which suggest that global warming will be accelerated by the effects of climate change on the rate of carbon dioxide increase."

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• Reuters
• Press release, DEH
• Press release, DEH
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• Guardian
• Terra Daily