The Environment Chronicle

Notable environmental events between 2001 and 2001 Deselect

  1. Seventh session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 7) took place from 29 October to 10 November 2001 in Marrakech, Morocco. Among the key outcomes of the Climate Change Conference were the Marrakesh Accords; this consisted of a package of 15 decisions on structuring and implementing the Kyoto-Protocol, including a system for monitoring compliance, using the Kyoto-Mechanisms the crediting of carbon sinks, and promoting climate action in developing countries. The adoption of the Marrakesh Accords at COP 7 smoothed the way for the Kyoto Protocol's entry into force.

  2. The 6th Climate Change Conference in 2000 in The Hague was adjourned without result. COP 6-2, the continuation of this summit, took place in summer from 16 to 27 July 2001 in Bonn. This meeting ultimately reached agreement on the main unresolved issues of the Kyoto-Protocol. The Bonn Agreements on international climate policy were an historic achievement: in spite of the US backing out of the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001, at COP 6-2 the Parties reached an agreement and established the conditions needed to ratify and implement the Kyoto Protocol. On 21 July 2001 the COP 6 President, Dutch environment minister Jan Pronk, submitted a proposal to ministers with compromises on the four disputed issues (CO2-sinks, the design of the Kyoto Mechanisms, the system for monitoring compliance, support for developing countries). After numerous consultations and two nights of negotiations, a generally acceptable compromise was reached on the basis of this proposal. On 23 July 2001 COP 6-2 accepted the negotiation oucome in a consensus of the Parties (with US abstention).