The climate change negotiations: Buenos Aires and beyond

The fourth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change took place in Buenos Aires December 1998. While the output of the negotiations in terms of adopted decisions was vaguer and less ambitious than some hoped for, changes in developing country alliances might have increased the chances for the Kyoto Protocol to enter into force. However, the destiny of the protocol is still highly uncertain, and after Buenos Aires the picture seems even more blurred than before the conference started. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.