The UNFCCC, or FCCC, is a well needed acronym for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Try saying that with your mouth full of jelly babies and you’ll understand why the shorter version is needed.
It’s an international agreement that is aimed at reducing greenhouse gases to combat climate change.
Currently there are 190 countries who have signed up to this agreement and 6 observing countries, these are split into 3 categories.
1. The Annex I countries – these are industrialised countries
2. The Annex II countries – these are the industrialised countries which pay for the costs of developing countries
3. The Developing countries
The Annex I and Annex II countries are listed below.
The Annex I countries all commit to reducing their emissions to levels below their levels in 1990
There are no such limits on the developing countries because emissions are strongly linked with the development and industrialisation of that society. Poor countries hardly produce any emissions – the whole of Africa only produced 3.5% of the worlds greenhouse gases. Tearfund believes that poor countries should have the opportunity to develop, however we believe that industrialised countries should help developing countries to develop by sharing new technologies for cleaner and more efficient development.
You can learn more about the UNFCCC at the following links.
• http://unfccc.int/2860.php
• wikipedia
Annex I countries: Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America
Annex II countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America