The Kyoto Protocol is an
international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding
targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
durban
Now delegates from more than 190 nations are in the 17th Conference of the
Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
in coastal city of Durban , South Africa, (from November 28 -December 9, 2011),
where thousands of representatives from governments, international organizations
and civil society are meeting to try to break a four-year stalemate to secure a
new global treaty that will bind countries to cut and slow down growth in
emissions of six main greenhouse gases and advance ways to cut global carbon
emissions and pollution.
The major agenda at Durban is the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legal
instrument in place to limit global greenhouse gas emissions, whose first
commitment period is about to expire in 2012.durban
The European Union said the world’s three nations that pollute the most are the
biggest obstacles to setting a time line to a legally binding pact on global
warming and that it won’t “cave in” on its demands.
China, the U.S. and India seem the most reluctant to sign up to the EU’s “road
map” pointing toward the next climate treaty after the limits in the current one
expire next year, have refused to commit to legal targets, raising the prospect
that no country will have targets to cut emissions after 2012.said Artur Runge-Metzger,
the EU’s lead envoy on the environment.
China has previously said it supported legal targets for others, but not for
itself. Oxfam senior climate change adviser Kelly Dent said, “This increases the
pressure on the U.S.” U.S. lead negotiator, Jonathan Pershing, told journalists
earlier in the day that the world’s No. 2 emitter would not take on legally
binding cuts because it did not believe that major emerging economies would do
so.
The European Union maintained its position that it supported the Kyoto Protocol,
based on certain conditions. They’re pushing for all major economies to agree on
a legally binding framework for climate action. But they realize that this may
not happen until 2015. The EU wants the largest emitters to agree by 2015,
meaning that would require China and other developing nations whose emissions
weren’t capped under Kyoto to accept mandatory targets.
climate change
“Since the EU is the only group of parties that is ready to consider a second
commitment period (under Kyoto) we are ready and willing to engage
constructively with the EU,” said Su Wei, China’s lead negotiator.
Time is running out to reach agreement on a deal for meaningful cuts in the
emissions blamed for worsening storms and raising sea levels to a point that
would wipe out several small island states, experts said.
The talks end on Dec. 9 and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma signaled the
host is looking for a deal that puts more of an onus on rich nations to cut
greenhouses gases than the developing nations most harmed by rising
temperatures.
Although a number of the parties at the negotiations have put forward time
frames by which a legally binding agreement should be in force – ranging from
2015 to 2020 — the US has held firm that such an agreement need only be made
after 2020.
It was also estimated that China would need to spend more than 1 billion Yuan or
nearly 160 million US dollars, on energy conservation and developing renewable
energy by 2020, to honor its commitment to reduce carbon intensity.
We are ‘not against a legally binding treaty’ but will not agree to any such
instrument till its implications were clear”, said Indian chief climate
negotiator and special secretary in the Environment Ministry J M Mauskar day
after China agreed for a legally binding climate treaty after 2020 in a bid to
fuel the slow pace of negotiations at Durban.
Canada and Russia have bluntly refused to sign another target under Kyoto, while
Japan on Friday asked for a fresh look at the issue, with a new treaty that
encompasses all major emitters.
The Kyoto Protocol binds the signatory countries to combat climate change and
reduce carbon emission to serve overall goal of this international agreement.
It is pertinent to mention here that Asia was the worse hit area due to severe
climate change. Pakistan is one of the countries that have been severely hit in
the recent years by disastrous effects of climate change including flash floods
and devastating earthquakes.