There is a general feeling of disappointment worldwide over the poor outcome of the Copenhagen Conference which failed to come up with a binding agreement to deal with climate change. The 191 countries, including an unprecedented number of heads of state, were expected to agree in Copenhagen to set common long-term climate objectives and common emission reduction targets, amongst others.

However, this 15th Conference of the Parties (COP 15) was only able to adopt a decision taking note of the “Copenhagen Accord”, a three-page document drawn up by the USA, China, India, Brazil and South Africa (attached). After twelve days of continuous negotiations, the conference came to a close at 3:36 pm on Saturday, 19 December 2009.

What is then the way forward regarding the two track negotiation process?

One track is the renewal of the Kyoto Protocol, with new binding agreements by the signatories (most industrialized but without the USA and China) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The other track is a new paper involving all countries called “Long-term Cooperation Action (LCA)”.

The COP agreed to extend the mandate of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA). It will continue its work with a view to presenting the results to COP 16 – to be held in Mexico City in November 2010.

However, officials will have to sort out problems due to a disconnect between the “Copenhagen Accord” and the work achieved by the two Ad Hoc Working Groups namely AWG- KP (Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol) and the AWG- LCA (Ad-Hoc Working Group on Long Term Cooperative Action).

Despite these fairly disappointing results overall, the issue of agriculture has come a long way to being part of a final deal. Agriculture has shown that it is a sector which counts amongst the main issues to be included in the future LCA final text, thanks in part to the sustained lobbying of IFAP.