Support for the Alliance of Small Island States in the Climate Change negotiations

In 1989 FIELD lawyers played a core role in the formation of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries that share similar development challenges and concerns about the environment, especially their vulnerability to the adverse effects of global climate change. Since 1989 AOSIS has grown to an effective coalition of 43 members, including 39 countries and 4 observers, drawn from all oceans and regions of the world: Africa, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Pacific and South China Sea. FIELD's independent legal advice and assistance to the group has helped it become one of the key players in the international climate change negotiations.

AOSIS countries are amongst those most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns, coastal zone flooding and coral reef dieback are causing increasingly serious ecological and economic disruption, sometimes threatening entire loss of territory. AOSIS countries often have limited financial and technical resources, making it difficult for them to present their case in the most effective way possible at international negotiations.

FIELD assists AOSIS members by providing briefing materials on the legal and political issues at stake, informing and training AOSIS members between negotiating sessions, assisting with the drafting of submissions and interventions, supporting delegations during the negotiations, and, when requested, intervening on their behalf. FIELD aims to assist these states to build and maintain their own capacity as effective negotiators, to promote the benefits of signing up to the most progressive targets for greenhouse gas reduction, to obtain assistance in adapting to climate change and to support the enforcement of these crucial commitments.

FIELD Related Activities

FIELD lawyers support AOSIS at Vienna, 27-31 August 2007

M.J. Mace and Ilona Millar provided support to the Alliance of Small Island States at the fourth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Article 3.9 under the Kyoto Protocol and the fourth workshop of the Dialogue under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These two bodies are working on commitments for Parties to the UNFCCC for the post-2012 period. Article 3.9 of the Kyoto Protocol requires negotiations to start on commitments for the second commitment period seven years before the conclusion of the first commitment period, which runs from 2008 to 2012. In order to engage non-Kyoto developed country Parties in future emission reduction commitments, and engage developing countries in these discussions as well, in 2005, in Montreal at COP 11 and COP/MOP 1, two parallel processes were established to assist negotiations on future commitments under both the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Protocol:
Ad Hoc Working Group on Article 3.9 to discuss commitments of Kyoto Protocol Parties beyond 2012; and
Dialogue on long term cooperative action to address climate change by enhancing implementation of the Convention.These two strands were intended to engage all Parties in considering future actions post-2012, including non-Kyoto Parties and developing countries. It is expected that either a mandate or roadmap will emerge from the Bali meeting for the conclusion of negotiations on the post-2012 package by COP 15, which will take place in Copenhagen in 2009, weaving together the outcomes from these two processes. The fourth Dialogue has now concluded after 4 workshops.
AOSIS submission to the Dialogue Information on the Dialogue process is available at http://unfccc.int/meetings/dialogue/items/3668.php All Dialogue submissions are available at http://unfccc.int/meetings/dialogue/items/4048.php
The fourth session of the AWG was initiated in Vienna, and will resume at COP/MOP 3 in Bali.
UNFCCC Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group from the Vienna meeting
UNFCCC Conclusions reached at Vienna meeting More information on the AWG is available at http://unfccc.int/meetings/intersessional/awg_4_and_dialogue_4/items/3999.php

Climate Convention's Twenty-Fourth Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies; Dialogue on long-term cooperative action to address climate change, 17-26 May 2006

FIELD attended the Twenty-Fourth Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany, where FIELD continued to provide legal advice and assistance to the members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). From 15-16 May, FIELD attended the first workshop in a series of four that will be held as part of a Dialogue on long-term cooperative action to address climate change by enhancing implementation of the Convention.

Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention and the First Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, 28 November - 9 December, 2005
FIELD lawyers attended UNFCCC COP-11 and COP/MOP1 in Montreal, Canada, where they continued to provide legal advice and assistance to the members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). The 2005 Montreal session was a landmark in the international climate negotiations. There were three key outcomes from the two week negotiating session:
First, Kyoto Protocol Parties formally adopted a series of draft decisions on international emissions trading, the Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation and the Kyoto Protocol's compliance system. These draft decisions had been agreed at earlier sessions of the COP, and forwarded to the first session of the COP/MOP for formal adoption. With adoption, the machinery for the flexible mechanisms has come into full operation. Second, Kyoto Protocol Parties initiated a process for discussing future commitments for the period beyond 2012. The Parties established an ad hoc open-ended group to consider future commitments of Annex I Parties for the period beyond 2012. This group will report to each COP/MOP on the status of this process. It will meet for the first time in conjunction with the twenty-fourth session of the Subsidiary Bodies in Bonn, Germany in May 2006. Third, UNFCCC Parties resolved to engage in a dialogue on long-term cooperative action to address climate change by enhancing implementation of the Convention. The dialogue will be held in up to four workshops that will be open to all Parties. The dialogue will report back to COP 12 and COP 13. Further information on the negotiations and their results can be found at the UNFCCC Website- www.unfccc.int.

FIELD Briefs AOSIS Member Countries at UN General Assembly on Expectations for Montréal: UNFCCC Climate Change COP 11 & COP/MOP 1, 14 July 2005

FIELD was invited to address assembled Ambassadors and country representatives from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. FIELD provided an overview of the present status of the international climate negotiations and what can be expected for Montréal in November, when some 180 countries will come together for the Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the historic First Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. FIELD highlighted significant issues for small island States that will arise at both sessions.

Twenty-Second Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 16-27 May 2005

FIELD attended the Twenty-Second Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn Germany, where FIELD continued to provide legal advice and assistance to the members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

Climate Change Negotiations, 16-25 June 2004

FIELD attended the 20th session of the Subsidiary Bodies to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn Germany, where FIELD continued to provide legal advice and assistance to the members of AOSIS.

FIELD assists AOSIS in Climate Negotiations at COP-10, 6-18 December 2004

FIELD attended the Tenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where FIELD continued to provide legal advice and assistance to the members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Further information on the negotiations and their results can be found at the UNFCCC Website- www.unfccc.int.

Federated States of Micronesia Ambassador Masao Nakayama, Tuvalu Ambassador Enele Sopoaga, Kiribati Minister of Environment and Social Development Martin Puta Tofinga, and Federated States of Micronesia Vice President Redley Killion.

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