All eyes on COP-6
Negotiations at the tenth session of the subsidiary bodies continued to move at a glacial pace Wednesday, with some observers attributing the plodding nature of the process to the focus placed on COP-6 by the Buenos Aires Plan of Action deadlines for work on issues such as the Kyoto Mechanisms. Typical of Wednesday's exchanges were those on land-use, land use change and forestry where discussion at SBSTA barely moved beyond the question of whether negotiators should move to substantive debate ahead of an IPCC report on the issue, and the Joint Working Group's failure to move beyond the discussion of its approach to its agenda on compliance.

The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice took up the issues of land-use, land-use change and forestry, emissions resulting from fuel used for international transport and technology transfer. The Subsidiary Body for Implementation considered financial and administrative issues. In the afternoon, the Joint Working Group on compliance conducted its first meeting. Issues now before contact groups or under consideration in informal consultations include: guidelines for Annex I Party national communications; the work programme on methodological issues related to Articles 5, 7 and 8 of the Protocol; research and systematic observation; implementation of Convention Articles 4.8 and 4.9 and related elements from Kyoto on adverse effects and compensation; the review of progress under the AIJ pilot phase; and the Kyoto Mechanisms; and non-Annex I Party communications and the timing of second communications.