ENVIRONMENT: Developing Countries Rap US over Kyoto Protocol

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 12 2001 (IPS) - The 133-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing nations, has criticised the United States for rejecting the landmark 1997 global warming treaty negotiated and signed in Kyoto, Japan.

“To be frank, it is a sad and disappointing message from the new Republican administration in Washington to the international community,” Ambassador Bagher Asadi of Iran, chairman of the Group of 77, told reporters Thursday. Asadi was especially critical of the United States for taking a unilateral decision on a treaty that was mutually agreed on at an international gathering.

The Kyoto Protocol on global warming marked the first time the world’s industrialised nations committed themselves to binding limits on greenhouse gases that threaten to bring about catastrophic changes in the global climate.

“The biggest concern revolves around the impact of such unilateral approaches to multilateral processes,” Asadi said.

“We in the developing world, in the Group of 77, are very much concerned about the negative repercussions of US pronouncements on the Kyoto Protocol for the ongoing multilateral negotiations in this area,” he added.

Asadi also pointed out that the Kyoto Protocol is a valid international instrument – and it is not negotiable.

“Its provisions should be respected and complied with by all the parties, according to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities – as an overarching principle enunciated at the Earth Summit in Rio almost 10 years ago.”

The United States, which represents only about four percent of the global population of 6 billion people, releases about 25 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases.

Under the agreement, the United States would have to reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other pollutants by seven percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Even before Bush’s decision to reject the Protocol, the US Senate refused to ratify the treaty last year.

US president George W. Bush said last month that if given an option, he would protect the country’s economy against the environment.

“I oppose the Kyoto Protocol because it exempts 80 percent of the world, including major population centres such as China and India, from compliance, and would cause serious harm to the US economy,” he added.

Kert Davies, director of the Global Warming Campaign for Greenpeace USA, says that “if it is indeed Bush’s policy to pull out of the Kyoto Protocol, he has declared war on the environment, not only in the US, but also on the global environment”.

“The world will not stand for this – the (US) administration will feel a backlash on the foreign policy front,” he warned.

The ruling Republican Party, which has received millions of dollars in campaign contributions during presidential and congressional elections from oil and energy industries, is determined to support big business in its battle against the environment.

Some of United States’ closest allies, including Japan and the 15- member European Union, have also criticised Washington for rejecting the treaty.

“Japan will be dismayed and deeply disappointed” if Washington walks away from the agreement, Kazuo Asakai, Japan’s ambassador for global environmental affairs, said last month.

The Sixth Conference of the Parties (COP-6) of the Climate Change Convention met in the Netherlands last November, but were unable to reach agreement on how best to implement the Protocol. A follow-up meeting is scheduled to take place in mid-July in Bonn.

Jan Pronk of the Netherlands, President of COP-6, will hold informal consultations in New York beginning Apr. 21. The Group of 77 will hold a high-level/ministerial meeting Apr. 20 in preparation for the consultations.

“We intend to participate actively and in good faith in the process leading to the resumed COP-6 session,” Asadi said Thursday.

“And we hope that the US, despite recent pronouncements, will join the international community, in earnest, in the ongoing process of addressing climate change challenges,” he added.

To this end, he said, “we remain prepared to engage in a constructive dialogue with the Americans to help advance the process within the framework of the principles of the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol”.