ENVIRONMENT: NGOs Criticise Japan At Global Warming Talks

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ramesh Jaura

BONN, Jul 16 2001 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) sharply criticised Japan Monday for throwing into question its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, the only global agreement on climate change to have legal force.

The criticisms came on the first day of UN talks here to save the 1997 treaty, which – once brought into force – would be legally binding on signatories. They followed a Sunday television appearance by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro, in which he suggested that operational rules for implementing the Kyoto pact would not be agreed until late October in Marrakesh, Morocco.

“While almost all other industrialised countries have expressed their intention to ratify the treaty without the US, Japan’s ambiguous position had enabled it to exploit the casting vote, thereby jeopardising ten years of tough negotiations,” said Kate Hampton of the environmental group Friends of the Earth International.

“Unless the Japanese government now states its intention to ratify the treaty without the US, the chance for meaningful international action on climate change could be lost and blame will lie squarely with Japan,” Hampton added.

Negotiations have been in a state of crisis since US President George W. Bush abandoned the treaty in March, branding it as “fatally flawed” and against the interests of his country’s economy.

Japan has been mediating between the United States and European nations intent on forging ahead without further delay. Koizumi has been a strong supporter of ratification but also has stated repeatedly that he is committed to securing US participation.

This week’s conference is an effort to revive negotiations that collapsed in The Hague last November. Jan Pronk, the Dutch environment minister, opened the talks here, saying, “It is crucial that we bring our four years of work (started in Kyoto) to completion. The public is waiting to see results.”

The Kyoto Protocol is a key subsidiary instrument of the the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was agreed in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and has since been ratified by 186 countries.

The convention committed signatories to the objective of “stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”

The Kyoto Protocol commits signatories to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent by 2008-2012, relative to 1990 levels.

To take effect, the pact needs to be ratified by at least 55 countries, including industrialised states that account for a minimum of 55 percent of the wealthy world’s emissions. Some 84 countries have signed the agreement but only 35, mostly developing countries, have ratified it.

Michael Zammit Cutajar, the UNFCCC executive secretary, said the 55-percent threshold in particular would be difficult to reach without the participation of the world’s two largest economies.

Most countries, including the 15-nation European Union (EU), have set a target date of no later than 2002 for the ratification and entry into force of the Kyoto protocol.

The United States, however, signed and ratified the Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992, and signed the Kyoto protocol in 1997, but has since abandoned it.

The United States has a 36.1 percent share and Japan, 8.5 percent. With Washington adamant in its rejection of the treaty, Japan’s vote has become pivotal.

Yuri Onodera, of the Friends of the Earth Japan, said Koizumi’s position was “a dangerous contradiction”.

Koizumi “says Japan will uphold its commitment to entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol by 2002, while (at the same time) delaying agreement by trying to get President Bush to abandon his unequivocal opposition to the treaty,” argued Onodera.

Bill Hare, climate director at Greenpeace, agreed. “With every passing day, Japan’s credibility falls further and further,” he said. “If the Japanese (want to) leave the Bonn meeting with any environmental credibility, they must state that they will ratify the protocol.

Hare expressed dismay at persistent reports that Japan is seeking the amend the emissions targets and timetables agreed at Kyoto.

“If this is true, Mr. Koizumi is making a terrible mistake in seeking to somehow appease Mr. Bush, Exxon and other US fossil fuel interests who are seeking to undermine the Kyoto Protocol,” he said.