The 17th Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was convened in Durban when the membership of this multilateral body faced two exceptional challenges. First, a critical component of the convention, the Kyoto Protocol, under which industrialized countries took binding commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, is completing the first period of implementation at the end of next year. In the absence of any agreement among the UNFCCC members, the global community would have lost the first and only opportunity that it has had to address the scourge of global warming through a multilaterally negotiated process. The second was a stern message sent out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the agency that provides assessments of the risks arising from the risk of climate change. In its special report on managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation, IPCC warned that as the earth’s temperature rises, the likelihood of extreme weather conditions will also increase.
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