The First National Communication on Climate Change

RESEARCH AND PUBLIC EDUCATION

THE FUTURE

THE FUTURE

Ukraine is currently examining the question of its future participation in the intergovernmental activities relating to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In december 1997 the Conference of the Parties to the UN FCCC was held in Kyoto. Kyoto Protocol grants countries a certain degree of flexibility in how they make and measure their emissions reductions. In particular, a «clean development mechanism» will enable industrialized countries to finance emission-reduction projects in developing countries and receive credit for doing so. An international «emission trading» regime will be established allowing industrialized countries to buy and sell excess emissions credits amongst themselves. The operational details for these schemes need to be developed.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change commits Parties to the Convention to develop national programs, plans and measures to respond to climate change. One of the key responses that countries can make is to prepare a national action plan and to adopt measures to mitigate climate change by reducing GHG emissions and enhancing sinks of greenhouse gases.

The further research is necessary because of uncertainties in meeting commitments to reduce future levels of greenhouse gas emissions and increase sequestration arise from several sources:

• The actual impact of measures may differ from their projected effects - some measures not currently scored at all may yield significant reductions, while some measures may yield lower-than-expected returns because they are not fully funded or are not fully effective for other reasons.
• Future legislative and administrative options that address environmental, energy, agricultural, and forest concerns could significantly increase or decrease net greenhouse gas emissions.
• Changes in the scientific understanding of the relative global warming potentials of different gases could change the estimates of the effectiveness of measures in terms of carbon-equivalent emissions.
• Improvements in the understanding and management of agricultural and forest soil carbon as they relate to the domestic carbon sink could change the net emissions baseline and the effectiveness of measures.

Financial resources for Ukraine to conduct the in-depth climate change research are limited. Therefore, it is necessary to get additional funds for conducting the technology assessments for mitigation and adaptation measures, and for promoting the diffusion of technologies.

The National Action Plan is not a one-policy development exercise, but it rather begins a process of continual improvement in energy, environmental, and economic policy. In developing future steps, Ukraine will continue to seek out opportunities for emission reduction that provide for economic growth and job creation.

 

RESEARCH AND PUBLIC EDUCATION

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