This story is from November 18, 2017

Bonn climate negotiations conclude: Nations prepare road-map for 'Talanoa Dialogue'

A picture taken on Nov 16, 2017 shows a replica of the Statue of Liberty emitting smoke from the torch display... Read More

The negotiations were supposed to end by Friday evening but differences over the issue of finance (contributions from rich nations to help developing countries adapt to challenges of climate change) dragged it till Saturday morning with negotiators working overnight to finalise the outcome of the Conference.

The compromise was reached when countries agreed to discuss it in special stocktaking sessions to review progress towards emissions cuts and delivering on climate finance in immediate term.

Though the negotiators still have to do a lot of works on finalising the rules which would be adopted during next Conference of Parties (COP24) in Poland in 2018, the Bonn conference (COP23) gave them a sense of what they need to do when it comes to bring money on table and raise ambition to achieve the climate goal of keeping the global average temperature rise within 2 degree Celsius by the end of this century and make efforts to keep it below 1.5 degree Celsius.

The 'Talanoa Dialogue' process would help them review their actions and discuss the way forward. Agreement on this stocktaking process is an important outcome of the Conference. It will discuss pre-2020 actions of rich nations apart from looking at the climate actions of all nations under the Paris Agreement.

'Talanoa' is a traditional approach used in Fiji and the Pacific to engage in an inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue. As per the COP decision, it has been structured around three questions - where are we? where do we want to go? and how do we get there? - to arrive at answers with consensus. "The dialogue will be conducted in a manner that promotes enhanced ambition. The dialogue will consider, as one of its elements, the efforts of Parties (countries) on (mitigation) action and (financial and technical) support, as appropriate, in the pre-2020 period", says an approach paper, adopted by all the countries as part of the final decision.

The overall outcome of the Conference was, however, a mixed one for developing countries, including India. The group could force the rich nations to agree for discussing their pre-2020 actions under the 'Talanoa Dialogue' (2018 facilitative dialogue) and bring them on board to get their performance reviewed next year and also in 2019. But, the rich nations did not budge much on the issue of finance despite the

Besides giving details of the 'Talanoa Dialogue' process, the COP final decision clearly outlined what all the rich nations need to do as far as their pre-2020 actions under the Kyoto Protocol (KP) are concerned. It had been a crucial demand of developing countries. The pre-2020 actions refer to existing obligations of only rich nations to take mitigation (emission cut) actions under the KP whereas the post-2020 actions are meant for all countries as per their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris deal.

BONN (GERMANY): The UN climate conference concluded here on Saturday with countries putting in place a road-map for ' Talanoa Dialogue ' — a year-long process to assess countries' progress on climate actions. The Conference also made progress on framing rules for implementing the Paris Agreement and brought the rich nations on board to walk the talk on their pre-2020 commitments.The negotiations were supposed to end by Friday evening but differences over the issue of finance (contributions from rich nations to help developing countries adapt to challenges of climate change) dragged it till Saturday morning with negotiators working overnight to finalise the outcome of the Conference.The compromise was reached when countries agreed to discuss it in special stocktaking sessions to review progress towards emissions cuts and delivering on climate finance in immediate term.Though the negotiators still have to do a lot of works on finalising the rules which would be adopted during next Conference of Parties (COP24) in Poland in 2018, the Bonn conference (COP23) gave them a sense of what they need to do when it comes to bring money on table and raise ambition to achieve the climate goal of keeping the global average temperature rise within 2 degree Celsius by the end of this century and make efforts to keep it below 1.5 degree Celsius.The 'Talanoa Dialogue' process would help them review their actions and discuss the way forward. Agreement on this stocktaking process is an important outcome of the Conference. It will discuss pre-2020 actions of rich nations apart from looking at the climate actions of all nations under the Paris Agreement.'Talanoa' is a traditional approach used in Fiji and the Pacific to engage in an inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue. As per the COP decision, it has been structured around three questions - where are we? where do we want to go? and how do we get there? - to arrive at answers with consensus. "The dialogue will be conducted in a manner that promotes enhanced ambition. The dialogue will consider, as one of its elements, the efforts of Parties (countries) on (mitigation) action and (financial and technical) support, as appropriate, in the pre-2020 period", says an approach paper, adopted by all the countries as part of the final decision.The overall outcome of the Conference was, however, a mixed one for developing countries, including India. The group could force the rich nations to agree for discussing their pre-2020 actions under the 'Talanoa Dialogue' (2018 facilitative dialogue) and bring them on board to get their performance reviewed next year and also in 2019. But, the rich nations did not budge much on the issue of finance despite the European Union 's (EU) pro-active role to fill the void created by the US decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The US will technically be in the Agreement till November 2020, but the move raised a lot of concerns among participants during the 12-day Conference.Besides giving details of the 'Talanoa Dialogue' process, the COP final decision clearly outlined what all the rich nations need to do as far as their pre-2020 actions under the Kyoto Protocol (KP) are concerned. It had been a crucial demand of developing countries. The pre-2020 actions refer to existing obligations of only rich nations to take mitigation (emission cut) actions under the KP whereas the post-2020 actions are meant for all countries as per their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris deal.