Kyoto pact added to UN climate meet draft
Date: 04-Nov-02
Country: INDIA
"Parties that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol should strongly urge parties that have not already done so to ratify the Kyoto Protocol in a timely manner," the revised draft urged as one of many steps needed to deal with climate change.
On Monday, the European Union had slammed the draft, called the "Delhi Declaration", for not mentioning the Kyoto accord, saying it was not strong enough.
The 1997 Kyoto pact aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the developed world by 2012 to 5.2 percent below 1990 levels. But the United States, the world's biggest polluter, has refused to ratify the pact, saying it would hurt its economy.
To take effect, the protocol must be ratified by enough industrialised countries to account for at least 55 percent of the developed world's 1990 carbon emissions.
Some of the 185 nations participating in the convention in the Indian capital saw the absence of a reference to the Kyoto pact as being a result of to U.S. pressure.
MEET TO DISCUSS REVISED DRAFT
Environment Minister T.R. Baalu, who presided over the conference, said the meeting would discuss the revised draft later on Thursday before it is adopted this week.
"After taking into account various suggestions and inputs, we have tried to identify areas where there is a clear consensus," Baalu told ministers from more than 80 countries taking part in the conference.
"These have been included in the revised proposal on the Delhi Declaration on Climate Change and Sustainable Development."
But Baalu said the declaration was not an opportunity to include any "new processes and actions", which could lead to new commitments to fight climate change or force poor countries to cut emission of greenhouse gases - a requirement not mandated by the Kyoto pact.
Some rich countries at the meeting called on poor nations to step up efforts to cut emissions. But poor and developing states say they cannot afford the cost of cutting emissions as they account for little pollution in the first place and have to struggle to feed their impoverished population.
Climate Action Network, a leading non-governmental organisation, said the draft fell short of expectations.
"The wording on Kyoto is merely cosmetic. The declaration fails to demand the immediate and unconditional ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by all countries, especially the world's biggest polluter, the United States," it said in a statement.
Without the United States, a complex weighting system means the pact would be dead without support from Russia. But Moscow has backed the treaty and says it may ratify it this year, virtually ensuring its implementation.