Considering that the first Kyoto Protocol commitment period will expire next year, there is now significant pressure from developing states for a second commitment period to extend this – the only legally-binding set of emission reductions. However, if South Africa hopes to realize the conference theme of "Working Together, Saving Tomorrow, Today", they must respond to this pressure with great subtlety.
This may be critical, because South Africa has often held the view that negotiating further commitments under the KP should take precedence over other negotiations at the COP.
Differences over such agenda priorities played a major part in the near-collapse of COP 15 at Copenhagen. If similar disagreements emerge again in such an intense atmosphere, it is hard to predict what the result will be. Placing the extension of the KP above all other issues at Durban could be a potentially risky strategy.
Nonetheless, a second commitment period will not spring from nothingness. The conference only spans eleven days. Negotiations will definitely be difficult. On 2 and 8 August 2011, the South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and current President of COP 17/CMP 7, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, laid out her country's preparations and priorities for the Durban COP. Speaking during a meeting discussing women and climate change, she argued that developing a second commitment period under the KP is the most important issue for COP 17.