Report of the Committee established to analyze ways to solve the problem of quorum for the CoP meetings

The report proposes reducing the CoP quorum from a majority to one-third of members to facilitate decision-making. It also suggests streamlining the accreditation of representatives, extending the notice period for meeting invitations to four months, and implementing cost-reduction strategies—such as shorter meetings and airport-proximate venues—to encourage participation from smaller member countries with limited resources.

• The report recommends amending Rule 24 to reduce the quorum for Plenary and Committee sessions from a majority of members to one-third. This change would lower the current minimum quorum for a CoP from ten members to seven, meaning only four votes would be required to take action instead of six.
• To improve delegation management, the report suggests rewriting Rule 3 to allow the Director to simply ask Permanent Representatives to confirm their participation and that of advisors before each CoP, rather than requiring a new designation for every meeting.
• The report proposes amending Rule 10 to ensure joint invitations from the Director and the host country are sent no later than four months before a CoP starts, including a list of key issues to assist member countries with travel and diplomatic planning.
• To support participation from smaller member countries with limited resources, the report suggests reducing CoP meeting lengths by having the Executive Council (EC) prepare summaries and recommendations in advance, requesting venues within an hour's drive of major airports, and sponsoring proposal-writing workshops for scientists from resource-poor countries.
• The author argues that the current Rules of Procedure for both the CoP and the EC are fundamentally flawed and require a complete rewrite rather than incremental amendments to avoid spending excessive time on rule changes at every meeting.

APA

Brown, L. B. (2008). Report of the Committee established to analyze ways to solve the problem of quorum for the CoP meetings. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-ec-26-scrp-report-e.pdf

Chicago

Brown, Louis B. Report of the Committee established to analyze ways to solve the problem of quorum for the CoP meetings. Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, 2008. https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-ec-26-scrp-report-e.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Brown |first1=Louis B. |title=Report of the Committee established to analyze ways to solve the problem of quorum for the CoP meetings |publisher=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |date=29 May 2008 |url=https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-ec-26-scrp-report-e.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{brown2008report, author = {Brown, Louis B.}, title = {{Report of the Committee established to analyze ways to solve the problem of quorum for the CoP meetings}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, year = {2008}, month = may, url = {https://archive.iai.int/admin/site/sites/default/files/iai-ec-26-scrp-report-e.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }