ON February 16 this year, the Kyoto Protocol formally came into effect. It became a law, an international treaty that bound more than a hundred countries in a global effort to save Earth from the disastrous effects of global warming.
It was after more than ten years of negotiations that the Protocol came into effect. Activists, supporters and volunteers around the world celebrated the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol with banners, windmills, actions against dirty power and a shutdown of trading on the International Petroleum Exchange in London. After more than ten years of protracted — sometimes exhausting, often frustrating — negotiations, 35 industrialized countries along with the European Community are now legally bound to reduce or limit their greenhouse gas emissions.
It was in 1997 in Japan, Kyoto, at the Third Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that 160 nations drafted the agreement known as the Kyoto Protocol. This treaty now calls for the industrialized world, that is responsible for most of the greenhouse gases to cut their emissions to levels, five per cent below to those that existed in 1990. This reduction is to be achieved no later than 2012. Initially, the United States, which releases more greenhouse gases than any other nation, voluntarily accepted a more ambitious target, promising to reduce emissions to seven per cent below 1990 levels; the European Union, which had wanted a much tougher treaty, committed to eight per cent; and Japan, to six per cent.
To get to know more about the Protocol and the battle to save planet Earth, the site to visit is the United Nations Environment Programme http://www.unep.org/. Here there’s a wealth of information, including news, reports, articles, maps, quizzes and data, on various environment and development issues. The UNEP provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. Links here include the Calender of Events, the News Centre and of course the UNEP store for some wardrobe shopping!
Then there is the Environment News Service http://www.ens-newswire.com/ that has the daily international environment newswire, independently owned, unaffiliated with any industry, government or environmental group. The service has been up and running since 1990 and is there to present late-breaking environmental news in a fair and balanced manner. Reports that are covered here include legislation, politics, conferences, lawsuits, international agreements, demonstrations, science and technology, public health, air quality, drinking water, oceans and marine life, land use, wildlife, forests, natural disasters, the indoor environment, hazardous materials, toxics, nuclear issues, renewable energy, recycling, transportation and environmental economics. And then of course there’s the World Wildlife Fund http://www.panda.org/.
This very well known, privately supported international conservation organization directs its efforts towards protecting endangered spaces, saving endangered species, and addressing global threats. This is indeed the place to be if you want to know what devastating effects global warming is having on the flora and fauna of the planet. There are success stories, like the regeneration of the rhino population in the Ujung Kulon National Park in Asia and then there are warnings that to avoid the most serious impact of climate change, there is a need to keep the global average temperature rise to well below 2C. To exceed such levels would have devastating impacts on people and wildlife. Similar views are held by the Greenpeace Intentional http://www.greenpeace.org. This non-profit organization that has a presence in 40 countries focuses on the most crucial worldwide threats to our planet’s biodiversity and environment. The organization campaigns to stop climate change, protect ancient forests, save the oceans, stop whaling, say no to genetic engineering, stop the nuclear threat, eliminate toxic chemicals and encourage sustainable trade. You can be one of the 2.8 million supporters of the organization, if only for a brief period, by clicking onto this site. Then there is Globalwarming http://www.globalwarming.org/. This web site is a project of the Cooler Heads Coalition a group of people who want to ‘dispel the myths of global warming by exposing flawed economic, scientific and risk analysis. Hey, that’s what they are saying.
Water constitutes an absolutely crucial part of our existence here. And for that, there’s the Water Environment Federation http://www.wef.org/. Founded in 1928, the Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization with members from varied disciplines who work towards the WEF vision of preservation and enhancement of the global water environment. The WEF network includes water quality professionals from 76 Member Associations in 30 countries.
Coming back to the Kyoto Protocol, though it was initially readily accepted by the US, but, following the change in administration in 2000, the US backtracked. News and views of the US’ shocking announcement can still be found at CNN Specials: US turn its back on Kyoto http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/globalwarming/. President Bush re-entered the global warming debate by unveiling his alternative to the 1997 Kyoto agreement on global warming. His plan offers incentives to businesses to voluntarily reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 4.5 per cent over 10 years and to reduce power plant emissions. The site has the original text of President Bush’s speech, and the reaction from various global leaders to his decision to backtrack on Kyoto. Audio and Video links are as well as links that are part of the global warming debate.
Please, let all of us get together and do some good for our own future generations.
ON February 16 this year, the Kyoto Protocol formally came into effect. It became a law, an international treaty that bound more than a hundred countries in a global effort to save Earth from the disastrous effects of global warming.
