Introduction
In response to growing concerns over the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, many nations came together in 1992 to sign the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992). This voluntary agreement pledged that member nations would work to reduce greenhouse emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. As it became apparent that major nations such as the United States would not be able to meet these guidelines, the parties to the treaty decided in 1995 to start negotiations for a protocol that would legally bind nations to reductions and limitations in greenhouse gas emissions (Congressional Research Service Report 98-2). These negotiations took place in Kyoto, Japan and were completed in December of 1997. The final product was the Kyoto Protocol, adopted on December 12, 1997 and opened for signing on March 16, 1998. The following research paper will detail the basic parts of the protocol, the debate over its impact in areas such as the environment and the economy, and, finally, its current situation and outlook for the future.
The Protocol
The major provision of the Kyoto Protocol was emissions reductions of the three main greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) as well as for three man-made gases (sulfur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons). Each industrial country's baseline was its 1990 emissions of the three main greenhouse gases, and its choice of 1990 or 1995 levels of the three man-made gases (Yellen 5). In total, the average emissions reduction of greenhouse gases over the period from 2008 to 2012 was expected to be about 5 percent below their 1990 levels.
One of the main cleavages of the Kyoto Prot...
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The Kyoto Protocol is a binding international agreement, which began in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. As of June 2013, there were a total of 192 parties participating in the Kyoto Protocol, Canada was no longer one of them. Canada was one of the first to sign the agreement, in 1998; more than 4 years later, Canada formally approved the Kyoto Accord, in 2002 ("CBC.ca - Timeline: Canada and Kyoto"). This meant Canada would have to decrease its emissions, by 6% in comparison to 1990 levels (461 Mt), by the year 2012. Despite some efforts, Canada failed to meet these requirements and in fact increased total emissions by roughly 24% by the year 2008. Canada formally withdrew from the Kyoto Accord in 2011, avoiding penalties and future detriments ("CBC News in Depth: Kyoto"). The withdrawal of Canada from the Kyoto Protocol was a good decision, the decrease in emissions was an unattainable goal, considering the cost, time, unfairness, dependency and technological advancement.
[11]Reviewing Existing And Proposed Emissions Trading Systems. (2010, Nov). Retrieved May 18, 2014, from International Energy Agency: http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/ets_paper2010.pdf
ed. “A Common-Sense Climate Index: Is Climate Changing? Noticeably?” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 95 (1998): 4113-20. Thomas Wigley, “The Kyoto Protocol: CO2, CH4, and Climate Implications,” pp.
P = preliminary data.Note: Data in this table are revised from the data contained in the previous EIA report, Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States 1998, DOE/EIA-0573(98) (Washington, DC, October 1999).Sources: Emissions: Estimates presented in this report. Global Warming Potentials: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
The Kyoto Protocol set by the United Nations allocates countries to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by growing what they lost, that is reforestation, and/or establishing a forest in a barren land, that is afforestation. Each country is allowed a certain quota that limits their greenhouse emissions. For companies that uses deforestation for commercial purposes must reforest the land they cut off to compensate for the loss. More often than not the land is left alo...
In order to reduce to potential climate change, the amount of greenhouse gases being released need to be reduced.
We humans cannot help but feel a twinge of regret when we contemplate how we brought forth the plague of global warming by our own hands in the passing years. Aside from rising sea levels as deluging coastal cities and depleting ozone layers as increasing cancer rates, we inevitably come face to face with one simple realization: it’s getting too hot in here. Moreover, we have been devastated by various extremes of nature, with spring frost storms and summer hurricanes arriving with increasing frequency. However, numerous though the causes of global warming may be, the general consensus is that carbon dioxide, which results from the burning of fuels such as coal, is the main culprit; this gas has now formed a high concentration blockade in the atmosphere, preventing heat from escaping and thus increasing the temperatures of our planet. Therefore, after assessing all facts of the problem, I humbly propose that we collect the CO2¬, compress it, and then place it into soda cans. Then, we shall store the soda cans underground, whence the CO2 originally came.
Brown, P. (1998). Issues and Opportunities Emerging from the Kyoto Protocol [Special issue]. Climate, and Forests. Abstract retrieved March 30, 2004, from http://www.wri.org/wri/biodiv
Nearly 200 countries have signed the Kyoto Protocol and they must reduce four greenhouse gases, in order to struggle with global warming. There are several perspectives on the effects of global warming on the environment. In this essay, we will consider the impacts and consequences of global warming. In the process, it will be clarified that there are positive and negative impacts of global warming. Ecosystem
The EU consists of 28 countries which collaborate in economic, political, cultural and environmental field. Despite the fact that the top news about the EU actions is connected mostly about economic and politics, environment and climate changes are also important topics to the EU. Because of the size of the EU, the EU leaders have broad acres to look after and to control climate changes there. The EU policy on climate changes is very structured, because of its targets, collaborations with other world’s countries and with researchers who are specialists in field of climate changes.
Mobility has allowed human civilizations throughout history to reap the benefits of unrestricted, intercontinental trade, but there are environmental costs as a result which are not immediately apparent. There is no doubt that trade between nations has depleted natural resources, but the question as to whether current trade policies augment or temper environmental degradation is currently under contention. One view is that environmental regulations will create "pollution havens" in countries where there are less stringent regulations, simply relocating environmental damage to a country where the environment is worth less. The opposing view comes in the form of the "Porter hypothesis" named for Michael Porter and his suggestion that stringent regulations will encourage technological innovation among polluting firms thereby decreasing the rate at which the environment is damaged. The opposing views deal with current trade policies, but it is also important also to look at the effects that trade has had on the environment when trade policies were just taking shape.
In The Development of Environmental Regimes: Chemicals, Wastes, and Climate Change, the authors provide a simple framework to analyze the development of global environmental regimes (GER) which ultimately addresses why states sometimes agree to cooperate on global environmental issues despite divergent interests. The chapter is divided into five subsections but begins with an introduction to explain the five processes involved in the development of GERs. The authors address questions such as who forms GERs and how are they formulated. Next, they apply the processes involved in the development of GERs to four case studies that are linked to global environmental issues: ozone depletion, hazardous waste, toxic chemicals, and climate change, respectively. The authors conclude that states and non-state actors can come together to address global environmental issues but not without obstacles.
Agenda 21, also referred to as Earth Summit, is an all-inclusive plan of action that is to be completed globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, governments, and major environmental groups in every area in which humans impact the environment. Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and the Statement of principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests were all adopted by more than 178 governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development that was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil June 13-14, 1992.
Nowadays, we can see a lot of campaigns to reduce this humans’ contribution of greenhouse gases to atmosphere. These campaign’s missions are usually about reducing the energy that we use, convincing us to use recyclable energy, stopping the deforestation... These missions are all about mitigating to climate change. Climate change mitigation is the actions to limit the significant rate of long term climate change. In other words, climate change mitigation is all of the actions about lowering the humans’ greenhouse gas contribution to atmosphere. It is now too late for humans’ to prevent the effects of climate change, but these effects can be reduced in the future with mitigation. The most popular treaty, disenchant of humanity, is Kyoto Protocol. The main goal of Kyoto Protocol is reducing the human emitted greenhouse gases, in other word, mitigation. Also in ways that underlying national differences in GHG emissions, wealth, and capacity to make th...
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