INDEPTH: KYOTO AND BEYOND
About the Montreal Climate Change Conference
CBC News Online | Nov. 25, 2005
Climate change experts are far-sighted. They are thinking 20, 30, 40 years into the future. So with the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012, there's a sense of urgency when it comes to reducing the emissions that are cited as causing climate change.
That's why the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change organized this conference, to look at actions to combat climate change beyond that date.
Montreal Climate Change Conference 2005 will gather all the parties in the Kyoto Protocol, and then some. Approximately 190 nations are represented by the 8,000 delegates in town between Nov. 28 and Dec. 9, 2005.
It's the largest intergovernmental climate gathering since 1997, when the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. That's when 146 countries promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
It all boils down to gas emissions. Power plants, factories and personal vehicles emit a mixture of gases that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, hence the term global warming.
This gradual warming of the Earth's atmosphere is not a good thing. It translates into the melting of glaciers, droughts becoming more common, and new hurricane patterns being formed.
The Kyoto Protocol came into effect on Feb. 16, 2005. It aims to curb global warming by legally binding signing nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 per cent below their 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
Goals
Among the variety of goals the delegates have, signing on new nations is perhaps the most pressing.
Negotiators from the signing countries will try to enlist the United States, the world's biggest polluter. The U.S. rejected Kyoto in 2001, when President George W. Bush said Kyoto was too expensive and flawed because it exempted developing nations from having to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Developing nations such as India, China, South Africa and Brazil will also be persuaded to sign on. Supporters say if those countries get on board, goals will be more attainable. While developed countries can expect to be handed tough commitments, developing countries might be handed less strict goals.
Delegates will also be trying to use the Montreal meeting to build on Kyoto by fine-tuning targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, perhaps through boosting research and innovation for any energy-saving technologies.
Another objective is to stop the damage being done in our own backyards. Many are pushing for incentives that will prompt people and big business to come up with new ways to be more efficient. Cuts of 20-30 per cent domestically could be a reality by the year 2020.
Lastly, the target that could hit closest to home: getting politicians to take responsibility for any promises made, and coming up with ways to help their citizens help the environment.
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