dont let us drown
COP 6, officially known as the 6th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held in Bonn, Germany, from 16th - 27th July 2001.
The UNFCCC was born at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 as a result of growing concerns about climate change. The objective of the UNFCCC is the 'stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system'.
In 1997 the Kyoto Protocol was negotiated as part of the convention and specifies legally binding targets and timetables for reductions of greenhouse gases by developed countries (the OECD and Russia and several other Central and Eastern European countries). Find out more about the history of the climate talks.
Greenhouse reductions of 5.2% globally were agreed in Kyoto but also included were several 'flexible mechanisms', that were intended to help nations achieve their targets but have become gaping 'loopholes' which may undermine the environmental effectiveness of the treaty.
The years since Kyoto have been spent trying to agree the rules for flexible mechanisms but earlier this year the newly elected President George Bush announced that the US was abandoning the Kyoto Protocol casting a cloud over the whole process. Read why the climate cannot wait for Bush.
