Why Does Poznan Matter?
8th December 08 – Tan Copsey, openDemocracy.net United Nations-led talks in Poznan, Poland – which start today – will mark the half-way stage of negotiations to form a new global agreement to prevent dangerous climate change. The process began last year at a conference in Bali, Indonesia [2] and will end in Copenhagen, Denmark [3], in December 2009 [4]. The agreement will succeed the Kyoto Protocol [5], which expires in 2012. Yvo De Boer, [6] executive director of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC [7]), called it “one of the most complicated negotiating processes the international community has ever seen.” It is also one of the most important. Like last year’s meeting in Bali, Poznan will play host to a vast array of national representatives, as well as intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental groups and the world’s media. This assessment comes to us from chinadialogue [8]’s “Bali to Copenhagen [9]” project. Why does it matter? The conference wi
