Although the Kyoto Protocol awaits Russia's ratification to enter into force, negotiations for the next commitment period (after 2012) are due to commence next year, with a key challenge being creation a fair and equitable regime from the perspective of developing countries. The Yokohama Roundtable will discuss lessons learned from past implementation of climate change commitments and viable options for the future. These discussions will be very timely, coming just a month prior to the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 6-17 December 2004. The roundtable's keynote speaker will be Professor Michael Grubb, Visiting Professor of Climate Change and Energy Policy at Imperial College, London. Also speaking will be Professor Hironori Hamanaka, former Vice Minister of the Environment and one of the chief negotiators of the Government of Japan in the Kyoto Protocol and post-Kyoto negotiations. A wide range of policy makers and members of the governmental, diplomatic, and academic communities in Japan will also participate. The roundtable agenda is available on the UNU-IAS website (http://www.ias.unu.edu).

Interested members of the public are invited to attend, but advance registration (by 1 November) is required in advance. A registration reply form is available online at http://www.ias.unu.edu/binaries2/Registration_Form_climate_change_roundtable.doc.

Media representatives are cordially invited to attend. For more information, or to reserve a media space, please contact Rebecca Carter at UNU-IAS (tel.: (045) 221-2335, e-mail: carter@ias.unu.edu).

The Yokohama Roundtable series is part of the UNU-IAS effort to foster multidisciplinary and imaginative approaches to the solution of pressing issues of global concern. The roundtables provide a setting for rigorous, in-depth discussions of the sustainable development challenge and bring together a diversity of pertinent views on core elements of the Institute's research.