Dec 14: As the fortnight long United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia is in the closing stages, it seems difficult to reach on any conclusion regarding the reduction of the emission of six greenhouse gases and also to come up with a successor agreement for the Kyoto Protocol that is set to expire in 2012. But the United States (US) disinterest for a legally binding agreement puts a hindrance in the progress.
The global climatic change action movement is set to launch an effective plan bringing responsible developed countries to fight climate change. However, there is a disagreement over the approach of some developed countries in curbing greenhouse gas pollution.
US in particular strongly opposed a proposal that asked Industrialised nations to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020. Though European Union (EU) and most of other delegates of 190 countries were agreed earlier but US made it clear of their opposition to this idea, including an emission reduction range in the Bali summit outcome for a 2020 guidelines.
This is certainly discouraging and such stand can sabotage the outcome of the ambitious summit. EU earlier in statement made the point that it is the developed nations who should take the initiative to fight climatic change. But here it seems that EU and the other developed countries are trying to bring a change to fight against US, which is trying to kill the whole process.
Keeping in mind the growing impact of climatic change with the increasing greenhouse emissions, the EU has warned that it will boycott US-led climatic summit next month unless US backed the target emission plan.
For its rigid approach US has received criticism from all quarters including the Nobel laureate and former Vice-President Al Gore, who in his address said, "My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress in Bali."
As in present time United States is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, so it becomes essential for the participation of US in bringing out an environmentally effective agreement that will be served as an example for other small countries to work accordingly.
The climatic convention, which started on December 3 in Indonesia, is aimed at bringing an agreement to launch two years of negotiations to work out a new international climate treaty as U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol is expiring in 2012.
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Comments:
david hill
December 14, 2007 at 12:00 AM
Other than the fact that the Bali Summit will provide absolutely no change in stopping the constantly increasing global pollution and the life-threatening build up of carbon dioxide, the world’s emerging problems put together are immense. Indeed together, they are a recipe of nightmarish proportions that has never been seen before by humankind. But the greatest threat to human stability is the fact that people do not realize that the time-span for solving these huge global problems has a finite period of time also. The writing is now on the wall I would say for all to see if they will only look and where humanity has to react, but where, reaction to global problems takes decades to solve. Therefore the lead-time that we have now is the only thing that we have in our favour. Leave it for another 20-years and we shall not have the necessary lead time to do anything about the really 'big' problems. This is what we really have to get over to our politicians and multinationals, for it will affect them as much as it will affect you and me. If they do not change quickly therefore, we shall all end up with problems that are just unsolvable due to the time-served requirement to solve them and where time will literally run out.
For only by people realizing our dilemmas quickly now will be able to confront them and have enough time to solve them. It is no use therefore in pussy footing around until it is too late. This is the greatest threat to the survival of humankind and where if we do not come to our senses quickly, in fifty-years time, the world will have become very similar to most probably how we depict hell itself.
Dr David Hill
World Innovation Foundation
Bern. Switzerland