NOVEMBER 12


165 nations to take steps against global warming

THE TIMES OF INDIA
[12 NOVEMBER, 2001]

ARRAKECH, Morocco: International delegates agreed on Saturday to the first-ever rules aimed at stopping global warming - a pact the United States, the world's biggest polluter, has rejected.

Negotiators meeting in Marrakech, Morocco emerged from more than 19 hours of haggling behind closed doors early Saturday and said they had smoothed over differences in how to enforce the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which calls for cuts in carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" suspected in global warming.

"I'm tired, but it was worth it," Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson said. All 165 participating countries approved the full set of rules later Saturday morning.

The Kyoto Protocol requires industrial countries to scale back emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by an average of 5 per cent from their 1990 levels by 2012.

The United States, the world's biggest polluter, watched from the sidelines, having decided in March to abandon the treaty and draw up its own action plan.

Other countries said they still hoped to eventually win over the Americans.

"The big question now is how we bring the United States into the biggest international effort against the greenhouse effect," said Olivier Deleuze, Belgium's state secretary for the environment and head of the European delegation.

Delegates said the agreement opened the way for ratification by enough countries to bring the treaty into force, probably before a global environment summit next September. The summit will mark the 10th anniversary of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, when countries adopted the first voluntary measures aimed at stopping climate change.

The treaty needs ratification by 55 countries, including those that produced 55 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in 1990. Without the United States, virtually every other industrial country would have to endorse the agreement to reach that goal.

Environmentalists welcomed the rules, even though they said the agreement was a watered-down version of what had been envisioned.

"It's a poor deal," said Bill Hare of the Greenpeace environmental group. "But that doesn't mean it's not worth having. It is a first step."

On the last day of the two-week conference, negotiators had been stuck on five points related to mechanisms that countries might employ to ease the task of reducing emissions.

Canada, Russia, Japan and Australia rejected a paper submitted Thursday night on how countries could trade pollution "credits," holding out against nearly all the other 161 countries attending the conference.

The deadlock was finally broken with a four-point compromise paper.

"With the addition of this paper, the package is satisfactory. I am very pleased," said Canada's Anderson.

The mechanisms are designed to help countries meet their targets by buying or selling credits on an international financial market, or by reducing their quota by expanding forests and farmland that soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The U.S. position weighed heavily on the meeting. At the previous conference in Germany last July, all other countries decided to press ahead despite the U.S. withdrawal. But some said the absence of the United States made it virtually worthless.

A U.S. delegation was in Marrakech and attended even the difficult negotiations during the last hours of the conference. But the delegates refrained from participating in talks on the treaty itself, participants said.

On Saturday, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi - who had months earlier shown some reluctance to go ahead with the agreement without Washington's cooperation - said he was pleased by the agreement.

"In order to ensure effectiveness of the measures against global warming, it is important that all countries act under one single rule, and Japan will continue its maximum efforts in this regard," Koizumi said.

Scientists say glaciers are already melting and rain patterns are shifting because of global warming. Over the next century, temperatures could increase by as much as 10 degrees, possibly raising sea levels and causing more intense storms and droughts.

Key points in the Kyoto Agreement

- The protocol obliges industrialized countries to cut or limit emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" by an average 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012. These gases are believed to trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the Earth.

- Countries may offset the requirements by properly managing forests and farmlands that absorb carbon dioxide, known as carbon sinks. They can earn further credits by helping developing countries avoid carbon emissions.

- The agreement allows for emissions trading - buying and selling the right to pollute.

- During Saturday's meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, countries agreed on the legal text that defines how countries implement the protocol and employ the trading and sinks mechanisms.

- Delegates agreed that signatory countries will face mandatory punishment if they fail to meet their emission targets.

- To take force, the accord must be ratified by 55 countries responsible for 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. With the United States not participating, ratification by virtually all other industrial countries is essential to meet that target. ( AP )