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1 Rev. Eur. Comp. & Int'l Envtl. L. 270 (1992)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

handle is hein.journals/reel1 and id is 263 raw text is: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the Convention), adopted on 9 May 1992, was negotiated in response to the grow- ing scientific evidence of the dangers posed by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide, methane, CFC's and nitrous oxides) in the atmosphere. These could lead to historically unprecedented rates of increase of world average temperatures with consequential adverse effects likely to include sea level rise, increased hurricane and cyclone activity, drought and desertification, and coral bleaching. UN Mandate to Negotiate The negotiation of the Convention was set in train by the UN General Assembly and its Specialized Agencies. In 1988 the General Assembly recognised that 'climate change is a common concern of mankind' and urged governments, intergovernmen- tal and non-governmental organisations to collabo- rate in a concerted effort to prepare, as a matter of urgency, a framework convention on climate change.' Also in 1988, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide the international community with the scientific guidance necessary to take further action. The First Report of the IPCC, published in August 1990, predicted a 'best-guess' of increases in global temperatures of 0.3*C per decade, with an uncer- tainty range from 0.2*C to 0.5'C per decade. The environmental, economic and social consequences of such rates of warming are described by the IPCC Working Group on Impacts. The political process leading to the negotiation of a legal instrument was given further impetus by the *~~~ r r1g'Iu November 1990 Ministerial Declaration of the Second World Climate Conference,4 which called for negotiations to begin 'without delay' on an effective framework convention on climate change containing appropriate commitments. In December 1990 the UN General Assembly estab- lished under its auspices an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a framework Convention on Climate Change (the INC) supported by UNEP and WMO, for the preparation of 'an effective framework convention on climate change, containing appropriate commitments, and any related instrument as might be agreed upon.' The INC held five sessions between February 1991 and May 1992 and the Convention was adopted at the close of the resumed fifth session, on 9th May 1992.' The Convention will enter into force 90 days after the fiftieth ratification, which is not expected to occur before 1994 at the earliest. The relatively high number of ratifications needed before the Convention enters force is a compromise between those States seeking a low number of ratifications (20) and those seeking an even higher number (80), as well as those States wanting the Convention to enter into force only when a stated percentage (two-thirds) of global carbon dioxide emissions were covered by ratifying States. * A Compromise Package The Convention was signed by 155 States and the European Community (EC) at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and has subsequently been signed by Libya. It is a pack- age which contains something for almost all of the negotiating States but leaves none entirely satisfied. It provides a compromise between those States 270 Framework for Climate Change Volume I Number 3 The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Philippe Sands

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