• Climate Change
• About climate change
  • Global warming
  • The international response
  • New Zealand perspective
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• Legislation & regulations
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• Other sustainable forestry initiatives
• Agriculture emissions trading scheme
• Sustainable land management
• Staying informed
• Background reports & analysis
• Previous consultation & background information

The international response to climate change

The international community has recognised that the issue of climate change needs a global response and that it is sensible to start limiting the growth of greenhouse gas emissions now in order to reduce the negative impacts expected from future global warming. Countries have been working through the United Nations to achieve this.

Two important international agreements deal with the threat of global climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Kyoto Protocol, a further agreement negotiated in accordance with the UNFCCC, was finalised in December 1997.

The objective of the UNFCCC is to stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that avoids dangerous human interference with the climate system. New Zealand is one of 180 countries that signed and ratified the UNFCCC. All developed countries that ratified the UNFCCC agreed to non-binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000. Only a few countries made appreciable progress towards achieving those targets.

The UNFCCC was designed so that it could be developed further by countries in response to new scientific evidence that suggested the objectives of the UNFCCC would not be met by voluntary reductions and that legally binding targets were required. They agreed to a further international agreement, the Kyoto Protocol.

The Protocol sets target levels of greenhouse gases for developed countries to achieve during 2008-2012 (the first Kyoto Commitment Period). The Protocol is only the first step in the reduction of greenhouse gases worldwide, and it is expected that further, stricter targets will be set in future commitment periods. New Zealand signed the Protocol in 1998, and has been actively involved negotiating the detailed rules by which it will operate.

To enter into force, the Protocol had to be ratified by at least 55 parties to the UNFCCC, including countries representing at least 55 percent of the developed world’s emissions. This happened on 16 February 2005. International negotiations are now underway to agree the framework to address climate change at the end of the first Kyoto Commitment Period.

Contact for Enquiries

Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change
MAF
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 CLIMATE (254 628)
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