The Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) has announced that, following the approval by the Standing Committee of the draft resolutions for consideration by the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP 11), the Secretariat has finalized all the draft resolutions. This is the second and final batch of available draft resolutions released by the Ramsar Secretariat.

Two years after the Copenhagen summit, the real world is moving away from a safe and equitable climate future faster than ever. Political leaders are busy fighting the global financial crisis. But the lack of public interest and disengagement of relevant actors in the UN climate negotiations (UNFCCC) has – in light of the rise of the G-20 as the new and powerful global governance forum – the potential to conceal what is really at stake.

This document briefly revisits the progress made from Cancun to the last intersessional held in Panama in October 2011, and then tackles the emerging political issues that the authors believe will shape discussions in Durban and beyond, among them the fate of the Kyoto Protocol and the role of the EU, and the increasing centrality of climate finance and the emerging role of business in influencing future negotiations.

The ninth BASIC Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change concluded with a joint statement in which ministers agreed that the Durban Climate Change Conference should achieve a comprehensive, fair and balanced outcome to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol. The meeting, which took place on 1 November 2011, in Beijing, China, was attended by representatives from Brazil, South Africa, India and China (BASIC).

This report is the result of a year-long research project driven by a quest for better understanding on how the emerging BASIC powers – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – approach international climate negotiations as a group. These fast growing economies will contribute to an increasing amount of CO2 emissions, while at the same time partly reducing their CO2 emissions. This reduction will take place under comparatively progressive national climate policies and concrete measurable mitigation actions.

In accordance with Rule 10 of the draft rules of procedure being applied by the Parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), India submitted three agenda items for inclusion in the provisional
agenda of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP-17). These are featured in the provisional