UN Chief Urges Kyoto Endorsement as Climate Treaty Turns 10

NEW YORK, New York, March 22, 2004 (ENS) - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Sunday called on all countries that have not yet ratified the Kyoto climate protocol to do so, in order to combat the impacts of global warming that are already being felt across the planet. Without naming them, he was referring to Russia, which has not yet made its Kyoto Protocol decision, and to the United States, which has withheld its ratification under President George W. Bush.

"I call again on those countries that have not yet ratified the Protocol to do so, and show that they are truly committed to shouldering their global responsibilities," he said to mark the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Annan said that in those 10 years some progress has been made, although the fact that the Kyoto Protocol has not yet entered into force remains a "major hurdle to effective global action."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan of Ghana called on world leaders to curb global warming. (Photo courtesy UN)

There are now 188 governments that are UNFCCC Parties, and institutions and processes have been put in place to enable governments "to take action, to coordinate those steps, and to measure the results," said Annan.

The marketplace is seeing more hybrid vehicles, wind power, hydrogen fuel cells, and carbon capture technologies as businesses and scientists respond to the threat of global warming, said Annan.

"The Convention's financial mechanism has also channelled almost $10 billion to climate change projects in poor countries, which are the most vulnerable to the impacts of the phenomenon," he said.

Still, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are increasing, and Annan echoed the warning of many scientists over the past year that some of the effects of climate change are by now inevitable. "We may already be seeing - in the increased incidence of drought, floods and extreme weather events that many regions are experiencing - some of the devastation that lies ahead," said Annan.

Carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas, is building up in the atmosphere at a record pace, according to measurements taken at the top of Mauna Loa Observatory on the island of Hawaii.

The reasons for this build up are yet to be determined, "But the big picture is that CO2 is continuing to go up," climate scientist Russell Schnell told the Associated Press. Schnell is deputy director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Monitoring & Diagnostics Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, which operates the Mauna Loa Observatory.

The gas is emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. It forms a blanket in the atmosphere, trapping the Sun's rays that would normally be radiated back into space.

Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), noted that re-insurance agents last year estimated that the cost of climate related disasters reached $65 billion.

"Fighting climate change makes economic sense in the long run because using energy more efficiently will ultimately produce enormous financial and green benefits, " Toepfer said in his UNFCCC anniversary message.

He said the world is on the cusp of another industrial leap forward, with fossil fuels such as coal and oil going the way of the typewriter and the punch-card machine – to be replaced by modern conventional power stations and alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar power.

Warming of the Earth projected 150 years into the future by U.S. government scientists (Photo courtesy NOAA)

“Then there are other economic impacts as a result of a continued, inefficient use of carbon based fuels," he said, "including those on human health and habitats and ecosystems, like forests and lakes."

Friends of the Earth urged newly re-elected Russian President Vladimir Putin to celebrate the anniversary by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, but the Russian leader has not yet made his intentions public.

Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper said, “Ten years ago world leaders recognised the importance of climate change by setting up the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which led to the Kyoto Protocol. It was a crucial first step, but sadly some countries stopped there. As a result millions of lives around the world are at risk from the damaging impacts of climate change. Those rogue states which have yet to ratify must now join this international effort. And Russian President Vladimir Putin should lead the way.”

The protocol, which sets legally binding targets and timetables for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, will only enter into force after it has been ratified by at least 55 countries, including industrialized countries accounting for 55 percent of their group's 1990 level of carbon dioxide emissions. Although the protocol has 121 parties, including the European Community, the vast majority are developing countries and it has not entered into force.

Although European Union countries and Canada are already taking steps to implement the Kyoto Protocol, it cannot enter into force without Russia's 17 percent of the required carbon dioxide emissions.