US rejects talks on Kyoto

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US rejects talks on Kyoto

 

 

From correspondents in Buenos Aires

08 December 2004

 

THE US resisted calls for talks on the Kyoto Protocol at an

international climate change conference today.

 

Delegates at the UN-sponsored meeting lamented the refusal by the US

to ratify the treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.

 

The Kyoto accord, the world's most ambitious and complex environmental

treaty, legally commits 39 industrial nations and territories,

including Japan and Europe, to trim their output of six greenhouse

gases - especially carbon dioxide - by at least 5.2 per cent by 2012,

compared with 1990 levels.

 

Russia's ratification last month gave the protocol the final stamp of

approval needed to go into force on February 16.

 

But problems remain, as the US, the largest producer of global-warming

gases, on Monday rejected any change of position. And signatories

China and India are producing more greenhouse gases as their economies

grow.

 

Washington's senior climate change negotiator, Harlan Watson, called

any talk of a post-2012 regime, when Kyoto runs out, " totally premature. "

 

" Economic development is essential for adopting measures to address

climate change, " he said.

 

" For the United States, any future treaty should not hurt the

country's economy and should cover every country in the world,

including developing nations, " he said.

 

US President George W. Bush's administration has refused to ratify the

treaty.

 

" The EU hopes that longer-term issues can be considered in a manner

that will assist parties to develop their understanding for a

post-2012 framework, " read a statement from the Netherlands, which

currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

 

However, French Ecology Minister Serge Lepeltier said it was a matter

of time before the US rejoined the Kyoto Protocol.

 

Mr Lepeltier, speaking on France-Inter radio, said that the Protocol

would become an irresistible force.

 

" I am convinced that we are going to bring the United States into

Kyoto, even if it doesn't want to, " he said.

 

Lepeltier suggested the US federal government would be caught in a " vise " .

 

It would be pressured on one side by US firms doing business in Europe

and on the other by US states, such as California, which are starting

to take individual action on climate change, he predicted.

 

" American corporations which have operations in Europe ... are going

to have to meet the rules which we set in place to uphold Kyoto, at

least on (European) soil, " Mr Lepeltier said.

 

" It may not happen today and it may not happen tomorrow, but the

United States will inevitably have to develop these technologies

because they do not want to lag, which would be a major risk for their

companies. "

 

Environmentalists highlighted the perils of global warming by building

an enormous " Noah's Ark " in downtown Buenos Aires.

 

Under a banner reading " millions at risk, " protesters planned to board

the vessel to symbolise impending disaster.

 

" Global warming is here and is having the greatest impact on the

poorest countries, where people are most vulnerable, " said Juan Carlos

Villalonga of Greenpeace Argentina, which sponsored the protest.

 

At the conference, Argentina's health and environment minister, Gines

Gonzalez Garcia, said global warming has already hit Argentina.

 

" In Argentina, we have been carrying out a systematic study of those

adverse effects, and the evidence gathered indicates that the problem

is even worse and is speeding up at a faster pace than formerly

anticipated, " he said.

 

The South American nation has seen more frequent storms and tornadoes,

floods, receding glaciers and a rising sea level, he said, adding that

the climate change poses health risks.

 

He said these weather patterns are " some of the signs confirming in

our country that what were identified as possible consequences of

global warming are already taking place. "