In true UNFCCC fashion, it was left until well after the
scheduled close of the climate change conference in Doha to fashion
an agreement to progress international efforts and negotiations to
address climate change. This time, COP18 has continued the
relatively positive progress of Durban and avoided a repeat of the
crisis in Copenhagen.
In many respects, the Conference of the Parties No. 18 to the
UNFCCC (COP18) and Meeting of the Parties No. 8 to the Kyoto
Protocol (CMP8) held in Doha, Qatar, was a critical juncture for
the success or otherwise of international climate change
negotiations.
Firstly, the mandate for the Ad Hoc Working Group for Long Term
Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) was ending. Secondly, the first
commitment period under the only legally binding agreement, the
Kyoto Protocol, was expiring with no sign that a second period was
going to emerge. Thirdly, elements of the Bali Road Map established
at COP14 in 2007, required conclusion, principally in
