Kyoto Protocol's validity prolonged till 2020 - Kazakh Foreign Ministry

ASTANA. December 12. KAZINFORM The 18th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was attended by more than 15,000 participants from 194 countries of the world, was held in Doha.

A delegation headed by Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Marlen Iskakov took part in the conference on behalf of Kazakhstan, the press service of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry reported.

Most important topical issues of climate change, in particular, the definition of the obligations under the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, further steps in the funding and mechanisms to raise funds in the Green Climate Fund were on agenda of the conference.

Participating countries adopted a series of decisions; the main one is the extension of the Kyoto Protocol by 2020. Obligations under the "Kyoto 2" took the EU, Australia, Belarus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Norway, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

For our country, the adoption of the "Kyoto 2" opens the way for investment in order to implement projects on flexible market-based mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.

Kazakhstan ratified the Kyoto Protocol on 26 March 2009. This document commits developed countries and countries with economies in transition to reduce or stabilize greenhouse gas emissions. First period of the Kyoto Protocol is valid to the end of 2012.