Calls for further international action on climate change
The European Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development, which comprises representatives from industry, NGOs, trade unions, academics and other interest groups, has recently issued its opinion on climate change. This coincides with the Fourth Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC), ongoing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They have issued a warning to negotiators that the prevention of climate change can only be achieved by the widest possible ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, backed by effective monitoring and enforcement measures. In essence, the Forum's report calls for: - Increased stakeholder involvement, to ensure that the implementation of the climate change agreement made at government level is effective, open and accountable; - An effective and credible monitoring and enforcement system; - Progress in the design of flexible mechanisms; - EU encouragement for the US to ratify the Protocol; - Assistance to bring developing countries into the process.