KYOTO Protocol

KYOTO Protocol

KYOTO Protocol

Introduction

Human survival on the planet is threatened by many factors, one of which is the threat posed by heat-trapping green house gases that cause a change in climate. This change leads to the so-called global warming, whose harmful consequences are witnessed globally. The rise of the see levels, unusually warm temperatures, an increased variability in whether patterns are some of the example of global warming.

Analysis

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts that the average global temperature could increase by 3.6 degrees Celsius by the end of the twenty-first century and could be equivalent to that which ended the last ice age. Scientists argue about the reasons of the global warming (Victor, David; Nakicenovic, Nebojsa; Victor, Nadejda, May 2001.). While some of them claim that it is a part of cyclical change, others believe that the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) primarily by the industrial Global North states are part of the problem Climate change is not just an environmental issue: It is also affecting the well-being of millions of people (Soizick, Martin; Charles Digges, 2003).

The United Nations (UN) contribution to the development of international cooperation in the protection of enviornment is huge. A significant progress in this cooperation was made in 1997 when more than 160 countries gathered in Japn to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, “which sets specific binding targets for emissions of greenhouse gases from industrialized countries, together with an array of complex mechanisms to give flexibility in how they are implemented and to assist global efforts towards more sustainable development. This paper provides an overview of the Kyoto Protocol and the position of the Unites States on issue of global warming (Ron Walker and Bruce Grant 2004).

One of the attempts to combat the danger of increasing global warming was made at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where more than 160 countries (including the United States) ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). The primary objective of the Convention was the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system (Morlot, 1999). All Parties, that ratified the Convention, were committed to develop and publish a national database of the "anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases” and to cooperate in finding new solutions, which will reduce or eliminate the climate change (Moe, Arild, 2000).

Under the terms of international law, any international agreement has to be ratified domestically to have legal authority. In addition, a minimum number of ratifications is necessary for an agreement to gain its legal force. The UN FCCC was signed by 50 countries, including the United States, and entered into force in 1993 (Jaura R, 2000). The next step was to hold the first Conference of the Parties to the Convention, which took place in Germany in March-April 1995. Here, the delegates adopted the “Berlin mandate”-a mechanism which required Parties to enter into negotiations for reducing ...