Gumboot November 2011

WETLANDS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION

WETLANDS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION
Preparations for the seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are underway. Delegates from all corners of the world will descend on Durban from 28 November to 9 December 2011, to assess progress in dealing with climate change and adopt resolutions for the ongoing implementation of the convention. An instrument of international law, the convention creates a starting point for intergovernmental efforts to address the problem of climate change. Its objective is to 'stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system'. South Africa has committed itself to a number of resolutions in the fight against climate change, including the reduction of the country's carbon emission by 34% by 2020.