Kyoto Protocol

WHEN THE GOVERNMENTS adopted the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), it was quite obvious that its commitments would not be sufficient to seriously tackle climate change. At Conference of the Parties (COP) 1 (Berlin, March/April 1995), in a decision known as the Berlin Mandate, parties therefore launched a new round of talks to decide on stronger and more detailed commitments for industrialized countries. After two and a half years of intense negotiations, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted at COP 3 in Kyoto, Japan, on December 11, 1997. The Kyoto Protocol was open for signatures on that day and took [Page 588]effect on February 16, 2005. As of June 2007, 172 countries have ratified the protocol and the treaty expires in 2012. But some of the major countries such as the United States and Australia have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Big, developing countries such as India and China are part of the protocol, but are not required to cut back any emissions under this treaty (based on the rationale that developing countries should be given a chance for development). This has made the treaty controversial and, so far, the targets have not been fixed. This is based on the principle of common, but differentiated responsibilities, as most of the emissions to be reduced (or blamed for today's climate change) were produced historically (during the industrialization era when most the developing countries did not produce emissions) or originate in developed countries. Per capita emissions in developing nations are still relatively low compared to the developed nations, and the share of global emissions originating in developing countries will grow to meet their developmental and growth needs.

The United States argued that the developing countries should also be bound by limiting their emissions, but the Protocol did not impose any restrictions on them. Developing countries, on the other hand, felt that their development was hampered because the colonial powers prevented their development by exploiting their natural resources and selling their finished products to the developing countries hence preventing development of industry there. Now that they are free to carry on their development, no limits should be imposed on their emission levels, because of their heavy dependence on fossil fuel. Another point of difference between the developed and developing nation was whether to consider the absolute value of emissions or the per capita value—there is a great difference between the two sides, and hence, the controversy still persists.