 | |  |
 |
|
|
|
World
Leaders Reconvene to Discuss Global Warming Goals |
Posted:
11.15.06
|
|
|
Leaders from 189 countries are meeting in the Kenyan capital
Nairobi to revisit the United Nations' global warming reduction
effort, the Kyoto Protocol.
Printer-friendly version: PDF
|
|
|
|
|
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, a product of an international treaty
on climate change, was ratified by 165 counties between 2005 and
2006. It requires 35 industrialized countries to cut greenhouse
gases emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Global warming
threats |
|
|
|
|
|
International scientists with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change say human-made greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide from fuel consumption could
lead to an increase in global temperature by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees
Celsius between 1990 and 2100 if significant action is not taken.
 The
group says the resulting change in global climates and rise in
sea level could lead to water shortages, massive population displacement,
decreased food production and extensive species extinction.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan put Africa high on the agenda
of the climate change meeting. He announced the launch of the
Nairobi Framework, a two-year plan that would promote alternative
energy sources for developing nations and raise money to protect
those nations from climate change.
He said though African countries contribute a relatively small
amount of global warming gases, they would be the most harmed
by climate change.
"The question is not whether climate change is happening,
but whether, in the face of this emergency, we ourselves can change
fast enough," he said.
|
|
|
|
Countries
rejecting the Kyoto Protocol |
|
|
|
|
|
Australia and the United
States -- the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter -- are the
only two major industrialized countries to reject the Kyoto Protocol.
"If they do not sign the Kyoto agreement, they have to act
and be in step with the rest of the world, the rest of the industrialized
world," said Annan, according to the Australian Associated
Press.
Though White House spokesman Tony Snow said earlier in the week
that climate change was a priority for President Bush, Harlan
Watson, the main U.S. representative at the Nairobi meeting, told
reporters it was unlikely that the president would ratify the
Kyoto Protocol anytime in the next two years even with pressure
from the United Nations and other countries.
 The
Bush administration objected to the Kyoto Protocol because developing
nations that produce significant amounts of greenhouse gases do
not have to meet the same goals as developed nations.
For example, China, a rapidly developing nation exempted from
the Kyoto Protocol, is predicted to surpass the United States
in carbon emissions within three years, according to an International
Energy Agency report. India and Brazil are two other highly populated
countries of concern because their pollution levels are growing
as quickly as their economies. These countries have rejected emissions
limits.
And though each of the Kyoto member countries had agreed to decrease
carbon dioxide emissions, many have failed and the actual levels
of carbon dioxide have been increasing globally at a rate of about
1 percent each year.
|
|
|
|
Economic
impact of climate change |
|
|
|
|
|
The United States also has argued that voluntary emission reduction
programs can work better than the Kyoto Protocol, and that excessive
limits would harm economic growth.
But Annan said it would cost nations more in the future if they
don't invest enough to address climate change now.
 "Too
often climate change is seen as an environmental problem when
it should be part of the broader development and economic agenda.
Until we acknowledge the all-encompassing nature of the threat,
our response will fall short," Annan said.
The secretary-general's remarks echo those of former World Bank
chief economist Nicholas Stern who said last month that the world's
response to global warming is "the greatest and widest-ranging
market failure ever seen."
Using the most dramatic estimates available, Stern predicted
the cost to control greenhouse gas emissions to be about 1 percent
of the world's economic production, but could rise to 5 percent
and 20 percent of the world's economic production if no action
is taken.
|
|
|
|
Next steps |
|
|
|
|
|
Though most members were skeptical that the conference would
produce new targets beyond the 2012 Kyoto Protocol expiration
date, there is hope for progress.
 "It
will be a series of steps, on the overall understanding that the
deal will be done in time for the parties to ratify before the
end of 2012." Michael Zammit Cutajar, chairman of the post-2012
talks, said, Reuters reported.
"Tackling climate change is the pro-growth strategy for
the longer term, and it can be done in a way that does not cap
the aspirations for growth of rich or poor countries," said
European Union nations who have called for a new round of Kyoto-like
emissions cuts.
The British government pledged Wednesday to pass a law requiring
a cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050.
However, Cutajar said many countries are reluctant to submit
to further controls while the United States is not at the negotiating
table.
--Compiled
by Adnaan Wasey for NewsHour Extra
What has your community done to limit greenhouse gas emissions?
If you were president, would you have signed the Kyoto Protocol?
Let other students know what you think. Click
here to submit your essay or editorial.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The potential dangers of swine flu are few compared to the real dangers facing the uninsured.
