A number of the articles specifically discuss issues that will be paramount in the negotiations that will take place at COP-6. Jon Barnett follows with a thought-provoking report from the Pacific Islands Conference on Climate Change held in April 2000. He highlights the difficulties that confront Pacific Islanders and the complexities of formalizing regional policies that can adequately deal with their unique problems. Two recent capacity building initiatives were undertaken for Africa and the Latin American nations. Joyeeta Gupta and Angela Churie Kallhauge compare these initiatives which were aimed at enhancing the negotiating skills of national delegates in preparation for COP-6.
Communities are the focus in two of our articles.
Paul Bryce outlines 20 years of community development in renewable energy in the Solomon Islands. Neela Mukherjee reports on a study undertaken in Northern India where farming communities gave their perspectives on the impacts on agriculture of air pollution. In ending, we would like to extend our appreciation to the many Tiempo readers for their patience in waiting for this issue of the bulletin. We hope that you will find this double issue of particular interest and well worth the wait.