UNFCCC

Basic and Background

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty which seeks to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, with the aim of preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with the earth’s climate system.

The UNFCCC, signed in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development also known as the Earth Summit, the Rio Summit or the Rio Conference

It is a framework which requires individual participating countries to commit to stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions.

There are 197 parties to the convention, who meet annually in Conferences of the Parties (COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

Objective

According to Article 2, the Convention’s ultimate objective is “to achieve, stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”.

This objective is qualified in that it “should be achieved within a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner”.