Bali Plan of Action will lead governments towards new treaty provisions to cover the period 2012 to 2016

(Bali, 15 December 2007) – 187 countries meeting in Bali on Saturday agreed to launch negotiations towards a crucial and strengthened international climate change deal. The decision includes a clear agenda for the key issues to be negotiated up to 2009. These are: action for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change, such as droughts and floods; ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; ways to widely deploy climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures.Concluding negotiations in 2009 will ensure that the new deal can enter into force by 2013, following the expiry of the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol. Indonesian Environment Minister and President of the conference, Rachmat Witoelar said: “We now have a Bali roadmap, we have an agenda and we have a deadline.” “But we also have a huge task ahead of us and time to reach agreement is extremely short, so we need to move quickly,” he added.

United Nations Climate Change Conference - Bali, 3 - 14 December 2007

The Conference, hosted by the Government of Indonesia, brings together representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and the media. The two week period includes the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. A ministerial segment in the second week will conclude the Conference. “We need to set the stage for a comprehensive agreement that tackles climate change on all fronts – including adaptation, mitigation, deforestation, clean technologies and resource mobilization. And we have to do what we can to reach this agreement as soon as possible to ensure a global policy is in place by 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends. Our goal must be nothing short of a real breakthrough in Bali.” --Ban Ki-moon United Nations Secretary-General For more information on the conference, please visit http://unfccc.int/2860.php