COP-Who?

The COP-11 is coming. Or haven't you heard? For those who don't know, COP stands for Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, (or UNFCCC) the umbrella framework for the Kyoto Protocol. The meeting, which takes place in Montreal and runs from November 28 through December 9, marks the eleventh such gathering. It also marks the first Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, which explains yet another acronym bestowed upon the pow-wow; namely, COP 1/MOP 1.

Lost? You're not alone. Our friends at Grist have put together this basic refresher on the many climate conferences that have gotten us here, but we can't guarantee you'll come away any less confused. All most of us really need to know for now is that the Montreal Conference will be an attempt to clarify emissions targets beyond the 2012 targets stipulated by Kyoto. The U.S., although not a signatory to Kyoto, is a party to the Framework Convention and will participate in the meeting.

If you really want more, you could visit the official website of the UNFCCC, where, bushwhacking past the tangled thickets of acronyms and bureaucrat-ese, we not only stumbled upon some good background information in plain English. (And Spanish. And French.), we even found some nice art.

As a final note, we hope to be providing daily updates from Montreal, so watch this space for details.