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Published online 16 December 2008 | 456, 846-847 (2008) | doi:10.1038/456846a
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Climate talks defer major challenges
Minor progress in Poland on adaptation and deforestation sets the stage for Copenhagen in 2009.
POZNAŃ, POLAND
International climate negotiators left Poland last week with a roadmap for completing work on a global-warming treaty in 2009 — a small yet critical step in the face of the global economic meltdown.
With the US delegation in a state of post-election limbo and Europe locked in a battle over its new climate initiative (see page 847.
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A Major Development for Biochar Soil sequestration; POZNAN, Poland, December 12, 2008 - The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) announces that Micronesia has filed a submission at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) proceedings underway in Poznan to introduce biochar as a technology for consideration as a "fast-start" strategy to "mitigate climate change in the immediate near-term." The submission places biochar on the draft agenda to be considered during UNFCCC negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009. Micronesia's proposal follows the filing of a submission by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) endorsing biochar earlier this week. The UNCCD, a sister convention to the UNFCCC, identified biochar as a unique opportunity to address soils as a carbon sink, in line with its 10 year strategic program that calls for the promotion of low-carbon footprint sustainable practices and technologies that assist affected countries in the implementation of their National Actions Programs to Combat Desertification and Drought. IBI Executive Director Debbie Reed said, "This is an incredibly important achievement, since Micronesia, as a UNFCCC country party, has officially positioned biochar as a mitigation technology for adoption even prior to the post-2012 framework. The UNCCD submission was an excellent start to what we sought here in Poznan, but the Micronesia submission offers a chance to jump-start efforts to adopt biochar as a climate change mitigation technology."