Kyoto Protocol Coming into Effect as of this Wednesday
United Nations, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina) Despite US rejection, the Kyoto treaty to fight global warming goes into effect today amidst continuous reports bearing ominous news about the future of the environment.
The 141-nation Kyoto protocol symbolizes that most in the international community are starting to take the phenomenon seriously.
Kyoto aims to put the brakes on a rise in temperatures widely blamed on mounting emissions of heat-trapping gases that could trigger droughts and floods, raise sea levels and wipe out thousands of species by 2100.
The world plan sets legally-binding goals of cutting wealthy nations" greenhouse gas emissions, mainly carbon dioxide emitted by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars. The reductions should be 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
An emission trading system is built into Kyoto that allows countries to sell emission certificates if they are ahead of their targets or buy them if they are unable to reach their goal.
This system has been a lightning rod for criticism of Kyoto. Further disapproval has been generated by the fact that developing nations aren´t required to commit to reductions.
With India and China expected to join the league of the world"s biggest producers of greenhouse gases in the coming decades, critics led by the White House have latched on to this shortcoming as justification for not supporting Kyoto.
President George W. Bush pulled out the United States, the world"s top polluter, in 2001 saying it was too costly and wrongly excluded developing nations from goals for 2012. Australia has also withdrawn.
After the US pullout, Kyoto won sufficient backing to start when Russia signed on late last year.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, extreme weather episodes will increase, both in quantity and scope. An increase in the number of malaria cases and hunger is expected to increase.
The effects, including those from rising ocean levels, would hit those parts of the world that already seem overly prone to catastrophe: Caribbean islands and the coastal regions of the Indian Ocean and Africa.
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Caribbean welcomes Kyoto Protocol
Port of Spain, Feb 16 (Prensa Latina) A leading Caribbean ecologist is advising that a key measure of the Kyoto Protocol can bring mixed blessings, even as the region welcomes the coming into force of the environmental plan on Wednesday.
Project Manager of the Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) programme of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Neville Trotz has described the advent of the protocol as "a watershed" in global efforts to stabilise so-called "greenhouse" gas emissions into the atmosphere, reported Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
He however advised that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) established under the protocol could have the effect of reducing domestic action to reduce harmful emissions in the more industrialised countries.
Under the CDM, industrialised countries can purchase certified emission reduction (CER) credits earned by smaller countries. "The driving force behind the CDM," Dr Trotz said, "lies in the commoditising of carbon which allows it to be traded on the global market."
"There is concern that (some) countries will exploit the mechanism and avoid significant domestic action thus defeating the major purpose of the protocol," he said.
The MACC boss however stressed that such a provision "can attract capital for projects that support a move towards a more efficient but less carbon-intense economy."
He added that the CDM can also be "an effective tool of technology transfer if investment is channeled into upgrading redundant and inefficient fossil fuel technology or create new industries in environmentally sustainable technologies."
According to Dr Trotz, developing countries such as nations of the Caribbean will have the opportunity to "strategically use the mechanism to support their sustainable development goals."
The Kyoto Protocol, which was negotiated in 1997, had been delayed as a result of the refusal by two of the world"s largest emitters of greenhouse gases, the US and Russia, to sign on to it.
Russia has since ratified the protocol, but the US has held to the position that its measures can bring domestic job losses.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently offered to press US President George Bush on the issue, but to no avail until this date.
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