Editorial
We present a special double issue of Tiempo to coincide with the Sixth Conference of the Parties (COP-6) which will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, between the 13th and the 24th of November 2000.
A number of the articles specifically discuss issues that will be paramount in the negotiations that will take place at COP-6. In the first of these, John Hay discusses the linkages between science-driven policy and policy-driven science for Small Island Developing States. Jon Barnett follows with a thought-provoking report from the Pacific Islands Conference on Climate Change held in April 2000. He highlights the difficulties that confront Pacific Islanders and the complexities of formalizing regional policies that can adequately deal with their unique problems.
Two recent capacity building initiatives were undertaken for Africa and the Latin American nations. Joyeeta Gupta and Angela Churie Kallhauge compare these initiatives which were aimed at enhancing the negotiating skills of national delegates in preparation for COP-6.
Communities are the focus in two of our articles. Paul Bryce outlines 20 years of community development in renewable energy in the Solomon Islands. Neela Mukherjee reports on a study undertaken in Northern India where farming communities gave their perspectives on the impacts on agriculture of air pollution.
Finally, Anne de la Vega-Leinert and Robert Nicholls summarize the project ‘Synthesis and Upscaling of Sea-level Rise Vulnerability Assessment Studies’ (SURVAS).
In ending, we would like to extend our appreciation to the many Tiempo readers for their patience in waiting for this issue of the bulletin. We hope that you will find this double issue of particular interest and well worth the wait.