The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

In the 1980s, increasing scientific evidence that human activities had been contributing to substantial increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations led to growing international concern about the possibility of global climate change. In response, the 45th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1990 adopted a resolution that established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change (INC/FCCC) to prepare an effective convention. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC) was adopted on 9 May 1992 and opened for signature at the UN Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, where it received 155 signatures. The convention entered into force on 21 March 1994, 90 days after receipt of the 50th ratification. As of January 2003, it has been ratified by 187 countries.

Article 2 of the Convention expresses its ultimate objective:
‘... stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system. Such a level should be achieved within a time-frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that
food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.’
At its first session in Berlin (March - April 1995), the Conference of the Parties to the UN FCCC
(COP1) reached agreement on what many believed to be the central issue before it, the adequacy of commitments (the Berlin Mandate). The COP1 also reached agreement on other important issues, including the establishment of the subsidiary bodies, which included the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). The task of the SBSTA is to link scientific, technical and technological assessents, together with information provided by competent international bodies, to the policy-oriented needs of the COP.
The early efforts of the FCCC and its subsidiary bodies culminated at COP3 in Kyoto (December 1997) with the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. COP3 also initiated an enhanced focus and work program on climate science and, in particular, on the adequacy of global observing systems for climate.
The IPCC and the GCOS play key roles in facilitating this program, in collaboration with the
international climate science community. As well as continuing to advance the full implementation of the Convention, subsequent sessions focussed on negotiating the rules and principles that are necessary to enable ratification and entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, including adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (COP4, October – November 1998) and its finalisation through the Marrakech Accords at COP7, October-November 2001.
The bodies of the FCCC, especially the SBSTA, work closely with the IPCC and draw heavily on the assessments of the IPCC to fulfil their functions. The IPCC Second and Third Assessment Reports, as well as the many specially commissioned Special Reports, have provided the principal scientific input to discussions and negotiations of the Convention bodies and inform their deliberations on an ongoing basis.