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mentioned, such as television and radio broadcasting, advice centres, telephone line services, fairs, seminars and billboard advertisements.

199. With regard to public participation, nearly three quarters of the communications described explicitly the process leading to the formulation of a national strategy or action plan to combat climate change. Most of these mentioned that constituencies other than government ministries and agencies were actively involved. Eleven Parties provided information on the drafting of their national communications. Four Parties specified that a major consultative process had been undertaken to incorporate the opinions of non-governmental organizations, the business community, local authorities and others.

200. Public participation in the form of collaborative action and partnerships between the Government and other groups was described in all the communications, although the extent of public involvement varied considerably from one communication to another. For example, one Party described its entire programme to reduce emissions as grounded in a partnership approach, whereas another reported only a few measures in the national programme illustrating such collaboration. Partnerships were most frequently described in relation to business and industry.

201. Independent initiatives of groups and organizations outside the public sector were reported less frequently than the partnerships discussed in the previous paragraph. Most schemes described were launched by the business community, although local authorities and non-governmental organizations also played an important role.

D. Integrating climate change considerations into policies and the identification and review of policies and measures leading to greater levels of emissions

202. With regard to commitments under Article 4.1(f), 10 communications made explicit, albeit brief, reference to climate change considerations in the context of social policies (for example, improvements in education and training, research into the socio-economic impact of climate change and health-related issues). Explicit mention of the incorporation of climate change considerations into economic policies was made in only a few communications. In all of the communications, however, many of the policies described to reduce emissions indicated that countries are including such considerations in economic policy-making. All Parties mentioned specifically the introduction of climate change considerations into environmental policies, in the form of climate change components of national environmental plans, climate change strategies and plans, or the setting up of processes and committees to address the issues. Only three Parties mentioned explicitly environmental impact assessment.

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203. Under Article 4.2(e)(ii), each Annex I Party is required to "identify and periodically)! review its own policies and practices which encourage activities that lead to greater levels of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases... than would otherwise occur" (emphasis added). In general, explicit reference to this article was not made. Most communications,“ however, did provide examples and instances of changes in policies and practices (for example, the removal of subsidies, changes in agricultural policy and land use practices and changes in tax structure).

204.

Es Other issues

One communication - - from a Party whose economy is in transition - - noted that Article 4.6 provides for "a certain [degrees of] flexibility" when meeting its commitments, in particular with reference to modifying its projections of emissions of greenhouse gases for the year 2000. The communication did not include a request for a certain degree of flexibility; if such a request were made, the COP would have to consider the matter. No communication sought special consideration under Article 4.10.

205. Article 4.2 addresses joint implementation, while the Guidelines are silent on this issue, leaving the subject open. While recognizing that the required criteria need to be decided upon, seven communications mentioned "joint implementation", with three of these discussing the subject in some detail, and all but one making a specific linkage to the Convention. The controversy surrounding the issue was acknowledged, with three communications mentioning that action had been taken to clarify some of the concepts. Four communications referred to specific projects or "pilot projects" under way, and three others mentioned that these were being planned. Two countries described initiatives that had already been taken with regard to domestic preparation to engage in joint implementation ventures with foreign countries.

206. The guidelines for the preparation of first communications from Annex I Parties are quite demanding in terms of the amount of information and level of detail requested or encouraged. Parties made significant efforts to follow the guidelines while recognizing that it many cases it will take more time and experience to be able to implement them fully. Nonetheless, the initial technical analysis has revealed some potential problem areas and issues where further precision or clarification of the guidelines might be useful. These relate largely to enhancing the transparency and comparability of information.

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207. Time did not permit the undertaking of a systematic review of the guidelines and the identification of potential improvements or of supplementary presentational devices such as standard tables, questionnaires or electronic formats. The Committee may wish to consider asking the interim secretariat to undertake such a review and to prepare a report on the matter for consideration by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice. In addition to enhancing transparency and comparability generally, a review could examine issues such as:

(a)

Gases to be reported, definition of source/sink categories, reporting of removals and treatment of "adjustments", such as for climate variations and energy trade;

(b)

Providing more precision on the type of background and supporting information to be supplied;

overall;

(၁)

(d)

The estimation of the effects of policies and measures, both individually and

The level of detail required for reporting on policies and measures including how the most significant ones can be identified;

(e)

Additional reporting conventions on data presentation, time frames and methods descriptions;

Reporting requirements with regard to the characterization of new and additional resources; and

(g)

The inclusion of commitments not explicitly addressed in the guidelines. 208. Several of the above issues will require the further development of methodologies. In this context, it will be important to work closely with the IPCC and other relevant bodies.

209. In-depth reviews of the individual national communications will continue through 1995, subject to confirmation by COP 1. They will permit a number of the issues identified in the body of the present document to be further addressed. In the course of the initial technical analysis, it was apparent that an opportunity to seek additional information from, and to discuss any problems with, officials from the reporting Governments would contribute to better understanding of the communications and to improved comparability of information. Confirmation with Governments of the information in the database developed for the review of policies and measures would result in an improved analytical tool. This should also result

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Annex

INVENTORIES OF ANTHROPOGENIC EMISSIONS AND REMOVALS IN 1990:

TABLES

General notes to the tables

In some cases, the figures presented in the tables do not correspond to those found in the communications. To the extent possible, such cases are explained in the notes to the tables, with the exception of differences resulting from rounding due to data input and processing. Differences have arisen from corrections of typographical and calculation errors or omissions, the incorporation of data communicated in the course of the review and the presentation (for consistency and comparative purposes) of subtotals and totals not provided in the communications.

Some of the differences are due to the fact that, in order to ensure consistency and comparability of results, the secretariat had to convert some of the estimates reported so that they concurred with the guidelines. Such changes included subtraction of emissions from bunker fuels and "electricity import corrections".

Blanks in the tables refer to either an absence of quantitative information or to the fact that only qualitative information was provided. The interim secretariat has chosen to leave the spaces blank in order not to complicate the reading of the tables. The figure "zero" appears in the tables only when reported as such by the Parties.

Table A.1. Anthropogenic CO, emissions, excluding land use change and forestry, 1990