Tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention would be held Buenos Aires Argentina from December 6 to 17, to discuss innovative new policies and technologies that would create climate-friendly economy in post Kyoto Protocol era.
The ministerial conference was build up to the Kyoto Protocol that would come into effect in February 16, 2005. The 90-day countdown to the Protocol was further came to reality after the Russian Federation ratified the treaty. The Protocol would become legally binding on its 128 parties to control global warming.
THE PROTOCOL'S ENTRY INTO FORCE MEANS THAT FROM FEBRUARY 16, 2005:
1) Thirty industrialised countries would be legally bound to meet quantitative targets for reducing or limiting their greenhouse gas emissions.
2) The international carbon trading market would become a legal and practical reality. The Protocol's "emissions trading" regime enables industrialised countries to buy and sell emissions credits amongst themselves; this market-based approach would improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of emissions cuts.
3) The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) would move from an early implementation phase to full operations. The CDM would encourage investments in developing-country projects that limit emissions while promoting sustainable development.
4) The Protocol's Adaptation Fund, established in 2001, would start preparing itself for assisting developing countries to cope with the negative effects of climate change.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialised countries were to reduce their combined emissions of six major greenhouse gases during the five-year period (2008-2012) to below 1990 levels. The European Union, for example, is to cut its combined emissions by eight percent while Japan should reduce emissions by six percent.
According to the sources, only four industrialised countries have not yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol including Australia, Liechtenstein, Monaco and the US. Both Australia and the US have shown no interest in joining the Protocol.
It may be mentioned that both the countries account for over one-third of the greenhouse gases emitted by the industrialised world.
While quoting the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, sources averred the most up-to-date scientific research suggests humanity's emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases would raise global average temperatures by 1.4-5.8°C by the end of the century. This would affect weather patterns, water resources, the cycling of the seasons, ecosystems and extreme climate events. "Scientists have already detected many early signals of global warming including shrinking of glaciers, sea-ice in Arctic and Antarctic, reduced ice cover on lakes and rivers, longer summer growing seasons, changes in the arrival and departure dates of migratory birds, the spread of many insects and plants towards the poles, and much more," the sources added.