Global Warming and the Kyoto Protocol
Environmental issues are becoming a growing concern for the world as well as for the world's leaders. Pollution, littering and the burning of fossil fuels are all problems that have drastically affected humans over the past few years. Impure drinking water, radiation, less ecological diversity and cancer are a few of such harms that the world has experienced. However, one of the most prominent concerns is the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect, a natural occurrence, is turning deadly with the introduction of humans and carbon emissions and is slowly heating up the world. In future years this could cause catastrophic consequences. Rising global temperatures threatens the very existence of the world's population, making global warming an issue that has no territorial boundaries, every country is contributing to the problem and will inevitably suffer the consequences. As this is a global problem the interest of many world leaders was brought fourth. Eventually they came together to address this dilemma and come up with a solution to it. What officials are currently at odds with is how to implement the protocol that was reached in Kyoto Japan in 1997. This protocol made by world leaders is one of the first world wide efforts to try and resolve current environmental problems. The ratification of which, would have a huge beneficial impact on generations to come.
The Third Session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP3) was held in Kyoto, Japan from the first to the tenth of December 1997. The conference had more than 2,500 participants, 3,000 Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) and 4,000 press representatives in attendance. Discussions l...
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...sultations. Despite world efforts Bush still claimed that the protocol is "fatally flawed," and bad for the economy. The European Union has been highly active in the efforts to get the protocol ratified and in working order. British environmentalist Michael Meacher said, "It's a beautiful day for the environment. It's a huge leap to have achieved a result on this very complex international negotiation." Up to this date 30 countries have ratified the pact.
This very complex world issue is something which desperately needed, and got, attention. The future of the world and the existence of all living things are at stake. The Kyoto Protocol is on attempt to create a more environmentally sound world. There are flaws and the U.S. remains unchanging it its decision not to ratify it but a step has been taken and without a first step nothing will ever get very far.
The Kyoto Protocol was created to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that are affecting Earth. The project is extremely expensive and lacks effectiveness. The protocol may benefit the world in the far future, but it is not worth a country going poor. Also, if tackling the issue involves the cooperation of our entire earth, developing countries should not be excluded. The Kyoto Protocol raises many concerns, and if something is going to impact our economy so greatly, it should not raise any concerns and should be foolproof. In order to demonstrate the lack of effectiveness, the economic consequences must first be discussed.
From the beginning the United States was viewed as the villain. Undersecretary of State, Stuart Eizenstat, and head of the U.S. delegation, let it be known that no amount of pressure could force the administration to flinch. “We want an agreement, but we are not going to Kyoto at any cost” (qtd. in Christianson 255). Vice President Al Gore added: “We are perfectly prepared to walk away from an agreement that we don’t think will work” (qtd. in Christianson 255). It was quite obvious that the United States did not want to be there – and for good reason.
Novak, Mary H. (1998, July 24). Kyoto Treaty A Giant Leap into the Economic Abyss. Houston Business Journal, 29 (10), p. 27A. [Online]. Available: http://insite.palni.edu/WebZ/Authorize:sessionid=0.
According to the protocol, overall global reduction must be at least five per cent in 1990 levels of greenhouse gases by 2008-2012. However, the Kyoto Protocol is not a simple document because both of the commitments and the mechanisms on how the developed country Parties can achieve the target are extremely complex. Although all countries recognized the need to cut global emissions of greenhouse gases, but since many developed countries are depend on the fossil fuel industry for their economy, they refused to agree with the limitation of their domestic greenhouse gas emission. This resulting the failure of the Protocol in protecting the earth from climate change, which is supposed to be the reason of its
Potential impacts of technology on a global scale are relatively long-term, the NCCTI is guided over this by the climate change goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 (Kyoto Protocol), ratified by the United States and more than 170 other countries (5) (3). The UNFCCC calls for the "... stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in Earth's atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."(5) In order to achieve this long-term goal, net emissions of greenhouse gases on a global scale must ultimately approach levels that are lower than they are today. (1)
Only a handful of nations did not sign the Kyoto Protocol. One of them, and perhaps the most remarking one, was the United States. With so many highly polluting industries, it was a strategy call to disagree and to argument that the climate wasn’t changing at all.
It has been suggested that Japan may not be effective in negotiating with the international community. I am here to put that assertion to rest. Japan, facing increasing incidences of daily maximum temperatures greater than 35C and a decrease in extremely low temperatures, recognizes that climate change affects all nations of the world, and that everyone has the duty to decrease the rate of climate change, if not counteract the effects altogether.
Studies, testified before the U.S. Congress that “the greenhouse effect has been detected and it is changing our climate now.” His statements made internation headlines which lead to increased public awareness of climate change—making it a salient issue for the general public. In response to public concern and what climatologists had known for years, the United Nations and other international bodies established policies to limit the emission of green houses gases. International agreements established by the United Nation’s Kyoto Protocol and European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EUETS) attempted provide monetary incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the establishment of carbon credit program and artificial carbon trading markets.
United Nations Department of Public Information. United Nations, Press Release. (1999, March 16) 84 Countries Now Signed on to Kyoto Protocol. [on-line] http://www.unfccc.de/fccc/conv/presskp.html.
For many years climate change has become a crucial issue around the globe. The environment has considerably deteriorated by the change of climate: seasons are shifting, the earth 's climate is changing, sea levels are rising and ice is melting. Global warming and the greenhouse effect is a topic that is becoming more and more concerning and a lot of research is done in order to examine what the issues are and how these affect the economy (Stern, 2006; CCRA, 2012) but also business industry and politics (Hanley & Owen, 2004). This phenomenon is a result of approximately 100 years of carbon-dioxide emission (amongst other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere (Stern, 2006). It is a serious phenomenon affecting the environment and living organisms.
To sum up, the EU drawn attention on climate changes and has essential goals to help other regions and countries to change the world. According to the Kyoto Protocol, the EU and other countries have big dreams about changing climate in positive way. That how the EU manages to accomplish the defined aims on the Kyoto Protocol depends on the EU leaders and Europeans also on the major emitting countries and other powerful world’s countries which have essential impact on climate changes.
The Kyoto protocol is an international agreement designed to address the global problem that is climate change, by trying to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Kyoto is at present signed by 192 parties, 191 of which are states while one is a regional economic integration organisation (UNFCCC) [1]. International agreement is necessary to address this important issue, since climate change affects every single country of the world and can lead to dangerous interferences with the climates system if action is not taken (Y. Feng et al 2008) [3]. The Kyoto protocol was very specific and stated that “The Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement under which industrialized countries
Byfield, Mike. "Kyoto- The Science and The Hype." Newsmagazine 4 Nov 2002. 16 Jan 2005 .
The Kyoto protocol was enacted in order to address climate change by implementing emission reduction goals. Seeing as anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are a systemic world environmental problem, any individual act has a global effect and; therefore, international cooperation is necessary in order to address the climate change issue in any region. Furthermore, although developed countries have and are contributing the most to greenhouse gas emissions, many developing countries are feeling the negative affects purely due to their geographic location. Because of this cause and effect imbalance, global cooperation is necessary in order for any emission reduction efforts to have any impact.
Nowadays, we can see a lot of campaigns to reduce this humans’ contribution of greenhouse gases to atmosphere. These campaign’s missions are usually about reducing the energy that we use, convincing us to use recyclable energy, stopping the deforestation... These missions are all about mitigating to climate change. Climate change mitigation is the actions to limit the significant rate of long term climate change. In other words, climate change mitigation is all of the actions about lowering the humans’ greenhouse gas contribution to atmosphere. It is now too late for humans’ to prevent the effects of climate change, but these effects can be reduced in the future with mitigation. The most popular treaty, disenchant of humanity, is Kyoto Protocol. The main goal of Kyoto Protocol is reducing the human emitted greenhouse gases, in other word, mitigation. Also in ways that underlying national differences in GHG emissions, wealth, and capacity to make th...