The fifth Conference of the Parties signatory to the Convention on Climate Change was an important step for the implementation of the Kyoto agreements, a year after the Buenos Aires summit. Most of the countries reconfirmed their determination to mitigate the effect of global warming, and almost a third of them expressed their hope to see the Kyoto Protocol come into force in 2002, ten years after Rio. For developing countries, being able to ensure development priorities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions appears as a major challenge for sustainable development. To make this possible, it is vital to strengthen human and technical capacity building which should fit in with a suitable organisational and institutional framework. In addition, we need to consolidate North-South co-operation through practical and effective actions, with a view to developing public and private partnerships and accelerating investment projects. The parties signatory agreed on a tight calendar and working schedule for the year 2000. Technology transfers will be right at the heart of this work, and will be dealt with in regional workshops. A seminar on best practices for policies and measures for preparing negotiations based on national experience is also on the programme. Concrete answers will be available to countries signatory at The Hague - at the sixth Conference of the Parties, November
13-24, 2000 - where operational measures on flexibility mechanisms should be adopted when results of the work start coming in.

Dominique Campana
International Affairs Director