The Opportunity

Climate change can only be effectively tackled through broad participation in the global reduction effort by all present and future major emitters. Resolved political will is needed to make real progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is a growing sense of urgency for stronger actions to curb the primary causes and to prepare for the consequences of global warming. In this respect, any initiative that fosters a relevant dialogue to identify the basic features of a potential architecture for a consensus should be welcome.

Since the Forum has been scheduled for early April 2007, there is ample time for the ideas that will be developed at the Forum to be further elaborated, so they may provide an informal input, with a broad and long-term perspective, to the next round in the formal process of negotiation under the UNFCCC.

Confluence with other initiatives

Dialogue of the key international partners to explore global climate strategies is being already conducted in various international forums: formally under the UNFCC, but also within the G8 and other multilateral and bilateral meetings. Identification, analysis and proposal of alternatives are also taking place, with support by industrial or financial institutions, in high-quality workshops run by universities and NGOs. This Forum will adopt as its starting point the valuable knowledge that has been already gathered by some of these previous meetings and related publications.