When the Parliamentary Meeting in Durban was concluding its work in the evening of 5 December, the outcome of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP17/CMP7) was far from clear. The prevailing mood was that anything was possible. Most parliamentary delegates were simply hoping that Durban would not become a "burial ground" for the Kyoto Protocol. In the end, it did not.

Following two weeks of tedious negotiations, the 195 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reached a consensus decision qualified by the United Nations as a "breakthrough in the international community's response to climate change". As COP17/CMP7 President, Ms. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, so ably put it, “what we have achieved in Durban will play a central role in saving tomorrow, today".

The Durban decisions will now be placed under the microscope by journalists, experts, politicians and NGOs alike. They should be carefully scrutinized by parliaments too.

All in all, the outcome of the UN Conference in Durban is laudable: governments agreed that a universal legal agreement on climate change should be adopted no later than 2015. Work on this agreement will begin immediately. Governments also agreed to a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. In the words of the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Ms. C. Figueres, this achievement alone was "highly significant because the Kyoto Protocol's accounting rules, mechanisms and markets all remain in action".

Moreover, governments consented to a significantly advanced framework for the reporting of emission reductions for both developed and developing countries, taking into consideration the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. In addition to charting the way forward for reducing greenhouse gases globally, governments concurred on ways to implement the package of support measures for developing nations that had been agreed one year earlier, at COP16/CMP6 in Cancún. The package includes the Green Climate Fund, an Adaptation Committee designed to improve the coordination of adaptation actions on a global scale, and a Technology Mechanism, all of which should become operational in 2012.

The IPU and the South African Parliament decided to organize a Parliamentary Meeting on the fringes of the UN Conference in Durban with the intention of offering parliamentarians an opportunity to obtain first-hand information on the main issues and orientations of COP17/CMP7 and to interact with government negotiators directly involved in the decision-making process. Its purpose has been achieved. Held on the premises of the world-famous Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, the Meeting brought together 275 participants from over 40 countries. Its impressive list of guest speakers included parliamentarians, UN officials, civil society representatives and local authorities.

Speaking at the inaugural session, IPU Honorary President, Dr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, said that "lawmakers could not afford to sit idly by and wait for government negotiators to reach binding global agreements". He called on parliamentarians to act through legislation and by holding their respective governments to account.

The Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, Mr. Max V. Sisulu, in his speech, provided several examples of how parliamentarians were directly involved in climate-related work.

Portfolio Committees have seen climate change considerations mainstreamed into their daily work. Debates, questions and Members’ statements relating to climate change have become commonplace. As part of the ongoing engagement with the government, special attention is being paid to the scrutiny of departmental budgets. Members of parliament and staff are provided with awareness and advocacy training and a special toolkit on climate change has been developed. In addition, the parliament regularly organizes national consultation seminars with key stakeholders, including government, civil society and the business community.

These and similar examples of parliamentary action on climate change were referred to time and again in the ensuing debate during the Parliamentary Meeting. At the end of its work, the Meeting adopted by consensus an outcome document that called on COP17/CMP7 to agree an equitable, comprehensive and legally binding outcome establishing a fair and effective international framework with the participation of all major economies.

That call appears to have been heeded.