The format for the initial Brazilian National Communication follows the guidelines of the position paper provided by the non-Annex I Parties Group (G77 and China), prepared during the seminar held in Geneve, Switzerland on February 25 and 26, 1996, chaired by the Brazilian delegation, and attended by experts from developing countries.

This document was officially presented on February 29, 1996, during the meeting of the Subsidiary Body of the Convention for Scientific and Technical Assessment to be sent to the Second Conference of the Parties.

During the Second Conference of the Parties in Geneva, 8-19 July 1996, the original G77 and China paper was discussed by a group of countries co-chaired by the United States of America and Brazil and an amended version of the G77 and China paper was approved as the Decision 10/CP.2 conteined in the FCCC/CP/1996/15/Add.1 document of July 17 1996 - Communications from Parties not Included in Annex I: Guidelines, Facilitation and Process for Consideration.

In accordance with the guidelines, the year 1994 should be the base year for inventory preparation. However, a big effort will be done in order to present, to the extent possible, the series of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases from 1990 to 1994.

This decision modifies what has been agreed upon on the Brazilian Enabling Activities Project signed with GEF for the preparation of the Brazilian inventory where it was stated that the base year would be 1990.

The proposed structure for each section of the Brazilian National Communication is shown. Each leaf (web page) on this structure will be developed under the coordination of an institution/expert and the expert in charge of the activity related to the page will be identified. The date of the last update and all information to allow getting in touch with the activity coordinator will also be shown in the page.