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www.un.org/climatechange UN stuff on climate change THE DAILY TELEGRAPH THURSDAY_OCTOBER 25_2007 Climate
The image The figures The facts
RIA NOVOSTI
Port Muinak
Twice… the average Arctic temperature in-
creases in the past 100 years; since the 1980s
temperatures at the top of the permafrost layer 1

Winds

Mid-latitude westerly winds have 3
Ecosystems
20-30pc of plant and animal species are
A sea without water
have generally increased by up to 3°C. strengthened in both hemispheres since the at risk of extinction if increases in global aver-
These fishing vessels are stranded in Port 1960s due to global warming. age temperature exceed 1.5-2.5
o
C.
Muinak on the Aral Sea.This landlocked sea, By 7pc… the decrease in the maximum area
once the world’s fourth largest, lies between covered by seasonally frozen ground in the
Kazakhstan, Karakalpakstan and Uzbekistan, northern hemisphere since 1900.
and has been drying up since the three main 2

Droughts
More intense and longer droughts have 4

Health

Climate change-related exposures may
rivers that fed it were diverted for irrigation 50 By 10-30pc… how much water availability been recorded over wider areas since the affect the health of millions of people through
years ago, principally to grow cotton. Pollution is projected to decrease by the middle of the 1970s, particularly in the tropics and subtrop- increases in malnutrition, disease and injury
and climate change have added to its woes, century in dry regions at mid-latitudes, some of ics. Increased drying is linked to higher tem- due to heat waves, floods, storms, fires and
creating an ecological disaster. them already short of water. peratures. droughts.
Ecology The 2007 calendar culminates with the UN Kyoto Protocol conference in Bali. This is the perfect
opportunity for the international community to act together in the fight on climate change
VLADIMIR FEDORENKO_RIA NOVOSTI
A global warning
upon the climate. The Kyoto on paper. This makes many Russia is among the most ac- Countries avoiding emission
Protocol was adopted with doubt the wisdom of the tive in climate protection. reducing obligations need
this in mind in 1997, and en- Kyoto Protocol. Ever more The Kyoto Protocol would be an arrangement on which
‘Russia is among the tered into force in 2005. It experts believe it should not void if we had not signed it. their voluntary steps will be
most active in
presently has 175 signatory be prolonged any longer. Russia thinks it is time now recognised and rewarded
countries. All these problems will be for effective international with relevant incentives.
climate protection.
The protocol is an innovative discussed at the 13th Confer- pledges to fight dangerous This is the only way to make
international legal instru- ence of the Parties to the UN- climatic changes, from 2012. the environmental team ef-
The Kyoto protocol
ment – the world’s first to FCCC and the 3rd Confer- The developed countries forts effective and give them
would be void if we
offer economic solutions to ence of the Parties to the must evaluate their econom- the desired scope after
environmental problems, Kyoto Protocol. Both will ic potential to stabilise and 2012.
-
had not signed it.’
such as trade in exhaust quo- gather in Bali, Indonesia, in reduce greenhouse gas emis-
tas, international teamwork early December, to launch sions up until 2020 and 2050 Alexander Yakovenko is
– Deputy Foreign
and projects on the Clean De- negotiations for a new global as numerical expression of Russia’s Deputy Minister of
Minister Alexander
velopment Mechanism, climate change agreement, their national obligations Foreign Affairs.
which envisages developed active after 2012. The talks following 2012.
Yakovenko
countries investing in and will make it clear whether The developed countries
technologically promoting the Kyoto process will con- must help the Third World More on the topic in the ePaper
the modernisation of obso- tinue. by technology sharing. www.rbth.rg.ru
lete Third World industries.
What matters most of all is a
pledge by all industrially de-
veloped countries to reduce
Global climate change goes greenhouse emissions from
hand-in-hand with harsh
The basic principles of the Russian approach
2008-12. This obligation is
seasonal temperature
Each country brings its
thoroughly calculated for
fluctuations, with droughts,
to international co-operation after 2012
each country, and co-ordinat-
tornados, tsunamis and ed between the signatories.
other calamities, to which no Compliance with the Kyoto own agenda to Bali
part of the world is immune. Climate change demands joint Whatever new agreements ligations and initiatives. Protocol promises to reduce
Many think, as our ancestors efforts by both developed and shall be envisaged, the distri- The idea Russia advanced in by 2012 total emission by
thought for millennia, that all developing countries. It is bution of national obligations Montreal in 2005 about vol- 5.5pc against 1990 figures. The negotiation process to for- South Africa and Indonesia, the developed countries a
these are acts of God. necessary to involve the great- must be just and every coun- untary obligations envisages However, it is clear even mulate a climate policy after who lead the developing larger share of the obliga-
est possible number of coun- try’s specific situation and so- granting every country the today that harsh reality may 2012 will be launched at the world in greenhouse gas tions. A majority of develop-
ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO
tries emitting the largest cio-economic development right to voluntarily make emis- thwart these expectations. 13th Conference of the Parties emissions, are still insisting ing countries are active in ne-
MOSCOW amount of greenhouse gasses – must be taken into consider- sion reduction obligations – European research agencies to the United Nations Frame- that the industrially devel- gotiations that will deter-
in particular, those who emit ation. an idea that may become one forecast that the EU can cut work Convention on Climate oped countries are histori- mine the developed coun-
Laymen merely shrug as ex- carbon dioxide and the users Russia approves of the volun- of the pillars of post-Kyoto ar- emissions only by 1.6pc by Change and the 3rd Confer- cally responsible for global tries’ obligations. They insist
perts warn about rising sea of traditional fuels. tary character of national ob- rangements. 2010 if it doesn’t undertake ence of the Parties to the Kyoto climate change. They rely on on the largest possible scope
levels, thawing polar caps, additional efforts. Protocol in Bali, Indonesia, close compliance with the of such obligations which,
and the air filled with green- The situation is all the worse December 3-14, 2007. principle of differentiated they hope, will render them
house gasses. To the public- the warming will go on to 1990s. The United Nations plus the European Union are as Australia and the United European Union countries though shared responsibili- more competitive in the glob-
at-large, these experts are not bring many other climate adopted its Framework Con- supporters of the Conven- States refuse to ratify the actively support retaining ty, which they believe gives al economy.
-
unlike grannies sighing: “In changes in its wake. vention on Climate Change tion. Its strategic goal is to protocol, while the develop- post-Kyoto succession,
our youth, winters were sunny Environmental experts (UNFCCC) during its Earth stabilise the amount of green- ing countries are exempt which envisages setting a
and snowy, summers neither brought the topic of climate Summit in Rio de Janeiro in house gases in the air, below from emission quotas. long-term global goal to re-
stifling nor rainy – and young change into the foreground 1992. the level sufficient for a dan- Paradoxically, the US, China duce greenhouse gas emis-
people behaved.” only as recently as the early At present, 191 countries gerous industrial impact and India, which lead the sions. They support the pres-
Rapid scientific and indus- world for emission – with ervation of Kyoto Protocol
trial progress is placing the 21pc, 15pc and 5pc respec- market mechanisms, and
human impact on nature on
The Arctic is melting and being destroyed
tively – have no reduction ob- deem it necessary to involve
a par with that of provi- ligations. the developing countries in
dence’s. Alas, man is turning The global socio-economic implementing practical ob-
a blind eye to the disastrous situation is changing as rap- ligations.
fruit of his headlong interfer- idly as is the global climate. The Europeans unilaterally
ence. The first international steps pledge to reduce emissions
In a report published this to prevent climate change by 20pc by 2020 within the
year, the Intergovernmental were, in the early 1990s, a EU’s boundaries and prevent
Panel on Climate Change, promising step in the right the global atmospheric tem-
one of the most authoritative direction. Now they demand perature from warming by
United Nations agencies revision. Confronted by dan- more than 2 degrees Celsius.
with a membership of the ger, the world needs effective The US and Australia, who
world’s leading scientists, international team efforts. have not ratified the Kyoto
backed up warnings of glob- True, many countries have Protocol, have an observer
al warming with facts and pledged to stabilise and re- status at the negotiating table.
figures. duce greenhouse emissions. They oppose practical obliga-
The previous 11 years were These emissions, however, tions and man-caused emis-
the warmest since 1850. The keep growing in the majority sion quotas.
average ocean temperature of industrially developed and Canada and Japan have seri-
rose at depths of three kilo- dynamically developing ous difficulties in coping
metres, according to moni- countries. Emission moni- with their obligations for
toring that started in 1961. toring shows that the proto- 2008-12. They support set-
This is why sea levels rose by col signatories’ efforts are in- ting common goals with an
17 centimetres in the 20th sufficient. emphasis on technological
century. Technology sharing, envis- solutions, bypassing strict
Global warming is expected aged by the Clean Develop- business limitations.
to go on for another 20 years ment Mechanism, does not The developing countries
with an average 0.2 degrees bring the expected rewards. (the Group of 77 and China)
Centigrade increase per de- The incentives for the coun- firmly refuse even to discuss
cade. If greenhouse gas emis- tries who wish to assume uni- prospects for practical obli-
sion stays at its present level,
SOURCE: UN.ORG
lateral obligations exist only gations. China, India, Brazil, GETTY
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