Joint Communiqué of the Environmental Authorities of the Andean Community Countries on the entry into effect of the Kyoto Protocol

The entry into effect of the Kyoto Protocol is strategic for the development of the Andean Community Member Countries, which have been actively engaged in activities to reduce the harmful effects of greenhouse gases and to move ahead in adapting to climate changes.

Climate Change is a matter of particular interest and concern to the Andean Community countries because of the extreme vulnerability of our peoples, biodiversity and ecosystems to present climate variations and the impact of global warming.

We are currently preparing a document on the status of Climate Change in the Andean Region, with the intention of working out a common strategy that considers possible synergies with biodiversity, disaster reduction and antidesertification strategies, among others.

The United Nations Framework Agreement and its Kyoto Protocol have helped us, among other things, to identify points in common on which we can work together. Recent examples of this are the launching of the process to draw up an Andean Strategy on Climate Change and the search for cooperation for that effort and the Andean Region’s active participation in the initiative to create the Iberoamerican Network on Climate Change.

The Kyoto Protocol offers an important opportunity to help reduce greenhouse gases. We have fairly strong institutional structures to approve and promote Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and diversified project portfolios that contribute effectively to sustainable development, as defined in the CDM objective. Ours is a highly active region with a large renewable energy potential and we have participated in several international conferences and forums on renewable energy and the CDM. We firmly believe that these issues constitute basic elements for our joint development.

Environmental Authorities of the Andean Community Countries

Lima, February 16, 2005