The Organization of Global Negotiations

7

Rules for the Conduct of Business

To the outsider, procedures may seem peripheral to matters of substance, but since in the UN procedures can determine substantive outcomes, they can and do arouse great passions (Renninger, 1989, p235).

Introduction

This chapter explores the rules for the conduct of business that govern the actions of all the players in the climate change negotiations – both parties and organizers (presiding officers, bureau and secretariat) – woven around the formal Convention text and draft rules of procedure, along with the informal practices and institutional setting of the regime. The formal rules are largely unoriginal in the climate change regime, mirroring those at work in the wider UN system, with few concessions ...