All eyes on COP-6 as participants gather for COP-5 in Bonn
As delegations arrive in Bonn for the fifth Conference of the Parties (COP-5) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a modest series of outcomes is anticipated in the run up to the all important COP-6 in the Hague. The Buenos Aires Plan of Action set deadlines for a number of decisions at COP-6. Until then, positions will remain heavily coded as Parties position themselves in a myriad of linkages. A comprehensive agenda of side events convened by non-governmental organisations and the private sector will, however, anticipate a number of the substantive issues to be resolved by COP-6. The achievements of COP-5 will be judged on the basis of their contribution to a shift from an "intense but diffuse" set of complex negotiations towards a clarification of the big picture and a definition of the specific components and options to be laid on the table at COP-6. Negotiations in Bonn are expected to further clarify the technical questions surrounding adverse effects, policies and measures, AIJ, Annex l inventories and approaches to the question of sinks. More substantive, political exchanges will address non-Annex l communications, finance, technology transfer and capacity building, the Protocol mechanisms and compliance. Negotiators are also expected to continue to dance around the issue of adequacy of commitments and the related question of voluntary commitments. Kazakhstan has proposed an amendment to Annex l to include itself in Annex l. Argentina is expected to make a statement on its voluntary commitment.

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