Latest UN climate talks conclude in Bangkok 14 April 2011
The first round of UN climate talks since last year's major summit in Cancun, Mexico have just finished in Bangkok.
While politicians and the media tire of international climate negotiations, Friends of the Earth is still engaged because really important issues are being decided during these meetings, often behind closed doors.
Just like in Cancun, Friends of the Earth had an international team at the talks monitoring the latest developments to ensure rich countries live up to their responsibility to lead in cutting their emissions first and fastest.
Yet during a week of negotiations in the Thai capital, rich countries stalled again on agreeing concrete emission reduction targets.
Even more concerning was that Japan and Russia have publicly renounced the Kyoto Protocol - the international treaty, agreed in 1997, which ensures rich countries cut their emissions in line with the latest science.
The Protocol also makes clear that rich countries have agreed that, because they have caused climate change by emitting most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today, they have a responsibility to tackle the problem first.
Yet in Bangkok, environmental groups including Friends of the Earth revealed that, instead, developed countries are shouldering only 35 per cent of the total emissions cuts on the table, with developing countries shouldering nearly two-thirds of the total cuts.
Friends of the Earth believes this is deeply unfair - but there is still room for this situation to change and for progress to be made as negotiations progress towards the next major UN climate summit in South Africa this December.
Towards Durban
In Bangkok there was controversy over how negotiations should progress over the next year - with the US suggesting that the talks should focus solely on the agreement in Cancun - a situation which could lead the world firmly down the path to climate catastrophe.
On the other side, developing countries argued that discussions should focus on a wider range of issues to ensure the world agrees a comprehensive, strong and fair agreement to tackle climate change.
Both groups have reached a compromise agreement - with developing countries winning concessions that will mean discussions will focus on thrashing out issued which could lead to this kind of deal, a welcome outcome which Friends of the Earth believes will increase the chances of progress at the next UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa.
© UNFCC
