Climate-Related International Conferences

Below are checklists of climate-related international conference postal items (stamps, souvenir sheets, aerogrammes, postal cards, etc.). Catalog numbers, years of issue, and notes on the items featured are given when available. If readers know of additional information or images, please contact the authors using the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this page.

The following conferences are presented in chronological order. See the bottom of this page for footnotes that are common to all of the tables below.

This congress, the 21st Hydrological Conference, was the probably the precursor of the 22nd Congress of Hydrology, Climatology, Thalassotherapy and Physical Therapy held in Maggio, Italy in 1932 (see next section).

This congress included the 5th Meeting of the Thalassotherapeutic Section of the Association.

Hydrology was implicitly a part of the World Meteorological Organization since the WMO Commission for Hydrometeorology was established in 1958. However, by the late 1960s there was a move to clarify and strengthen the role of hydrology within the WMO. The Commission's name was changed to the Commission for Hydrology in 1970 (it has also been referred to as the Technical Commission for Hydrology). In Buenos Aires in 1972 the fourth meeting of the Commission for Hydrology laid the groundwork for a comprehensive and independent program for operational hydrology within the WMO. This program was named the WMO Operational Hydrology Program (OHP). Furthermore, the meeting proposed that hydrological advisers be appointed to assist the permanent representatives of the WMO members and the presidents of the six WMO regional associations. Three years later the OHP was officially established and the hydrological advisers were appointed. Indeed, with WMO's adoption of the slogan "Weather, Climate, Water", the importance of hydrology within the WMO is perfectly encapsulated.

This was the first major international conference on environmental issues. Sponsored by the UN, it marked the beginning of public concern for and political awareness of global environmental problems. A wide range of environmental issues was considered. The most important atmospheric issue discussed was the use of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and their suspected link to the depletion of upper atmospheric ozone. Worries about global warming were in their infancy at the time; possible manmade global warming was not a principal concern of the Conference. However it did make it indirectly into Principle 6 of the Conference Declaration: "The discharge of toxic substances or of other substances and the release of heat, in such quantities or concentrations as to exceed the capacity of the environment to render them harmless, must be halted in order to ensure that serious or irreversible damage is not inflicted upon ecosystems." Principle 2 referred to, among other things, the atmospheric portion of the human environment: "The natural resources of the Earth, including the air, water, land, flora and fauna and especially representative samples of natural ecosystems, must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate".

This conference discussed freshwater issues in the context of sustainable development. It was recognized that

• global climate change could affect freshwater resources and the hydrological cycle through higher temperatures and decreased precipitation leading to decreased water supplies and increased demand for water;
• increases in climate extremes, such as floods or droughts, could further stress water resources;
• a sea level rise would put low-lying countries at risk; and
• atmospheric pollutants could affect freshwater resources.

The conference recommended that the international community "develop and apply techniques and methodologies for assessing the potential adverse effects of climate change, through changes in temperature, precipitation and sea level rise, on freshwater resources and flood risk." Prevention and control measures for floods and the for the long range transport of atmospheric pollutants were also advocated.

This was the first international conference at which the issue of desertification on a global scale was addressed. It produced the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification, which consisted of guidelines and recommendations to help individual countries develop their own action plans and to coordinate assistance from the international community.

At this meeting greenhouse gases, global warming and climate change were discussed, and the IPCC First Assessment Report was adopted. This report would serve as the basis for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an international environmental treaty established at the 1992 Rio Summit.

This major conference treated a wide variety of environmental issues. In the atmospheric arena, one major achievement was the establishment of an international environmental treaty known as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It had no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions but provided for updates ("protocols") that would set such limits. The Kyoto Protocol is the most well known of these updates. The UNFCCC entered into international force 21 March 1994 after its ratification by 50 countries. Since then the parties to the agreement have met in an annual Conference of the Parties (COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change and to establish goals and create agreements for future action in this area.

This was the first major international conference on natural disaster reduction. There are many types of natural disasters of course, including those related to weather and climate. The progress toward the goals of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction was discussed (this conference took place about half way through that decade). The Yokohama Strategy for a Safer World: Guidelines for Natural Disaster Prevention, Preparedness and Mitigation and its Plan of Action was adopted. In it was noted that "developing countries affected by desertification, drought and other types of natural disasters are also equally vulnerable and insufficiently equipped to mitigate natural disasters". It also recommended that "cost effective technologies in reduction programs, including forecasting and warning systems" be developed or taken advantage of. One implicit reference here was to the early-warning capacities within the UN system, and particularly within the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Program.

This was the first session (i.e. meeting) of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties. Concern was expressed about the ability for various countries to meet commitments under the Convention. It was agreed that a plan containing a "comprehensive menu of actions" should be negotiated, with the idea that each country could choose from that menu the options for addressing climate change that made the best economic and environmental sense for its particular circumstances.

At this meeting it was agreed that sustainable development cannot be achieved by governments acting alone: the private sector also has a crucial role in providing the required investments. Various associated financial implications and imperatives were discussed. Environmental topics considered included ozone, global warming and climate change.

After difficult negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol for greenhouse gases was adopted at this seminal conference, at which most industrialized nations agreed to legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of 6-8% below 1990 levels by the years 2008 - 2012. However, for the agreement to come into force, at least 55 countries accounting for at least 55% of the CO₂ emissions from Annex 1 (industrialized) nations would have to ratify the Protocol. In 2002 the 55th nation ratified the Protocol, and in late 2004, with Russia's ratification, the 55% threshold was also passed. As of January 2009, 183 countries and one regional economic integration organization (the EEC) have ratified the Protocol, representing a total of 63.7% of the Annex 1 nations' emissions. However, the U.S. has not ratified it.

The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is a global partnership among a large number of countries, international institutions, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. It was founded in 1991. Its mission is to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives and international projects in the areas of biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and persistent organic pollutants. The First Assembly Meeting specified that GEF supports international environmental conventions and protocols such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. In fact the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) and the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) have formally designated GEF as the financial mechanism for the implementation of their programs.

In this conference various aspects of desertification were discussed, including

• global climate change and desertification;
• the effects of wind and water on soil erosion and sand creep;
• using remote sensing and geographic information systems in desertification studies;
• groundwater resources in desert areas; and
• combating land degradation and desertification.

At this meeting it was noted that the number of countries that had ratified the Montréal Protocol had risen to 180. Discussion on various technical issues related to ozone took place. Financing mechanisms for ozone-related programs were also considered.

Work toward ratifying the Kyoto Protocol internationally continued in this conference despite the fact that the U.S. had rejected it. The target date for bringing the Protocol into force was set as the date of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development which was planned to for the end of August 2002.

Held 10 years after the Rio Summit, this meeting was also referred to as "Rio + 10". It attempted to build on the work of previous conferences through discussions designed to commit the nations of the world to a program of sustainable development. A variety of social, environmental and political topics was considered, but little was achieved. One climate-related result was that during the summit Russia announced that it would ratify the Kyoto Protocol. This action meant that enough big greenhouse gas-producing countries would finally have ratified the Protocol to bring it into effect internationally. Russia's ratification came into effect in November 2004. This success was overshadowed, though, by the continued refusal of the U.S. and some other industrialized countries to ratify the treaty.

At this meeting it was agreed that the GEF could provide new funding in the area of "land degradation, primarily desertification and deforestation". This was in addition to its previously-defined role as a financial mechanism for the implementation of the programs of the UNFCCC and the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity). This new role was confirmed in 2003 at the UNCCD - COP-6 (6th Session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification) when the GEF was formally established as one of the financial mechanisms of the UNCCD.

Global warming and greenhouse gas emissions were discussed at this meeting. At the time of the meeting some 96 nations had ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but this was still not enough to bring it into effect internationally. Russia's agreement to ratify the Protocol, announced two months earlier at the Johannesburg Summit, would allow it to come into effect, finally, in late 2004. However, with the U.S. refusing Kyoto and with many countries increasing their carbon emissions, there was no real progress in the climate negotiations at this meeting.

The main decision of this meeting was to establish the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as the financial mechanism of the UNCCD. Also, a review of the implementation of the Convention by countries affected by desertification, particularly in Africa, was initiated. However, trade and economic issues of developing countries tended to overshadow significant dialogue on the international importance and impacts of desertification.

This conference was convened by the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin. It was a special conference, not to be confused with the yearly UNFCCC conferences. It endorsed the IPCC TAR (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report) conclusion that climate change is occurring primarily because of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols, and that this changing climate represents a threat to people and ecosystems. However some controversial dissenting voices and interpretations were also heard at this conference.

At this meeting, in addition to scientific and technical discussions on ozone and on the financing of international work in the area of ozone layer protection, it was decided that the year 2007 would be declared the "International Year of the Ozone Layer". It was agreed that although the Montréal Protocol was a clear success, its objectives would finally be achieved only through continued stringent controls, financing and enforcement. The science symposium that immediately preceded the 16th MOP (on November 19th) was chaired by Mario Molina. Its theme was "Challenges and Perspectives in Ozone Layer Protection".

In this conference the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters was adopted. It states that "events of hydrometeorological origin constitute the large majority of disasters". Environmental degradation, climate variability and climate change were only some of the wide variety of disasters considered at the conference. The Framework promotes "the application of in situ and space-based earth observations, space technologies, remote sensing, geographic information systems, hazard modelling and prediction, weather and climate modelling and forecasting, communication tools and studies of the costs and benefits of risk assessment and early warning". Through research it expects to "strengthen the technical and scientific capacity to develop and apply methodologies, studies and models to assess vulnerabilities to and the impact of geological, weather, water and climate-related hazards, including the improvement of regional monitoring capacities and assessments". It aims to reduce the risk factors related to "changing social, economic, environmental conditions and land use, and the impact of hazards associated with geological events, weather, water, climate variability and climate change". The conference did acknowledge that it has not yet been scientifically established whether the numbers of extreme weather events leading to disasters have increased in the recent past.

Discussions designed to lay the groundwork for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in the post-2012 time period took place at this meeting and an agreement that came to be called the "Bali roadmap" was negotiated. Though some delegates termed this agreement a "breakthrough" for creating a sustainable future and tackling climate change, in fact it was no more than a plan to negotiate long-term international co-operative action in the area of climate change. It was hoped that the roadmap would lead to a firm international plan of action on greenhouse gas emissions for 2013 and beyond and the idea was that details would be finalized at the COP-15 meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009. The U.S. added a ray of hope to the proceedings by agreeing to the Bali roadmap.

More than 100 environment ministers from countries around the world along with representatives of UN agencies and other international organizations, industry, academia and non-governmental organizagtions attended this UNEP/GMEF meeting. The two principal themes were mobilizing finance to meet the challenge of climate change, and global environmental governance. Resolutions adopted included one on the International Decade for Combating Climate Change.

This conference considered the various aspects of water related disasters, including the effects of floods, droughts and cyclones. The relationship between climate change and water-related disasters was considered. It was recognized that the risks of water related disasters increase with climate change and increasing climate variability. A special area of interest was the drying of the Aral Sea. In this context were discussed the influence of climate change and its possible effect on hydrometeorological phenomena in the Aral Sea area as well as land degradation and desertification in the area.

This meeting of the world's eight largest economies treated various issues including climate change. The members attempted to come to some agreement on targets for reducing greenhouse gases. The G-8 agreed to "consider" cutting greenhouse gas emission by at least half by 2050. However, the baseline from which such cuts would be made was not specified. The European Union wanted to continue with the Kyoto baseline of 1990 emissions levels while others preferred baseline years closer to the present if they suggested any year at all. Significant in this regard also was that the five biggest greenhouse gas emitters of the developing countries (India, China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa) refused to make any firm commitments for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The meeting did support capacity building for water-related initiatives, including data collection and use and adapation to climate change.

This conference picked up from where COP-13 in Bali left off. Discussions focused on a post-Kyoto international climate change agreement to take effect in 2013. No clear results emerged from these discussions. However principles were established for funding the efforts of the poorest nations in coping with climate change, and there was progress on the mechanisms for transferring environment-friendly technology to the developing countries.

The theme of this conference was how to bridge the gap between the water and climate agendas, particularly with reference to climate change and climate-related natural disasters. Adaptation and mitigation strategies with respect to climate change were considered, and discussions took place on how to manage droughts and floods to prevent the loss of life, including the possible establishment of a network of national climate services to improve management of reservoirs and food production. The need to develop a framework for action on adaptation, include the financing of adaptation strategies, at UNFCCC COP-15 in Copenhagen in December 2009 was also noted. The Southeastern Anatolia Project in Turkey was recognized as a model of sustainable development providing both livelihood opportunities and flood protection, though it was agreed that the situation could be improved with better climate data and modeling products to provide better seasonal predictions of rain.

The goal of this meeting is to establish a successor to the Kyoto Protocol: a global climate agreement that will come into effect in 2013 after the expiry of the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.

Footnotes common to all of the tables above:

^*Scott catalog number, unless prefixed with Mi or BL for Michel.
^**FDC = first day cover; SS# = Souvenir Sheet, MS# = Miniature Sheet, where # = number of stamps in the strip or sheet; and the numbers in parentheses are the catalog numbers of the stamps in the sheet.

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