J’can delegation reports success from Doha climate change conference

KINGSTON, Jamaica - A Jamaican delegation of environmental officials has returned from the annual climate change conference in Doha, Qatar, with a sense of accomplishment, having seen the achievement of the goal to establish a new five-year commitment period that allows developed countries to further reduce their greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change. The team, led by Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change Robert Pickersgill, attended the 18th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from November 26 to December 8. Clifford Mahlung, head of the Climate Change Branch at the Meteorological Service of Jamaica and the lead negotiator for the team, indicated that the decision for a smooth transition of the Kyoto Protocol — an international agreement that sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas emissions — into a second commitment period was the most significant achievement of the conference.