COP23 is the informal name for the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC was adopted in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, which marked the beginning of the international community’s first concerted effort to confront the problem of climate change. Known also as one of the Rio Conventions, the UNFCCC established a framework for action to stabilise concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. The UNFCCC entered into force in 1994, and nearly all of the world’s nations have now signed on. Currently, there are 197 Parties (196 States and 1 regional economic integration organization) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
At COP21, held in Paris in November-December 2015, the parties negotiated what is known as the Paris Agreement, which established specific actions and targets for reducing greenhouse gases emissions, mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change, and financing mitigation and adaptation efforts in developing countries. The agreement took effect nearly a year later. Signatory countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius and to make strong efforts to keep the rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Agreement is especially significant because it is a legally binding agreement.
2017 UN Climate Change Conference will take place from 6 to 17 November at the World Conference Center which is located in Bonn, Germany, the seat of the Climate Change Secretariat. The Conference will be convened under the Presidency of Fiji.
The Conference will comprise sessions of:
- the Conference of the Parties (COP 23);
- the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 13);
- the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 1.2);
- the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI 47);
- the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA 47);
- the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA).
For more information on UN Climate Change Conference and COP23, visit here and here.