Canada reiterates support for Kyoto protocol
Associated Press
Bonn — Canada strongly backed a proposed treaty against global warming on Friday, dispelling any
notion that its support depends on the United States and rejecting U.S. arguments that the pact is flawed.
"We do not believe the Kyoto Protocol is flawed, as the Americans have said," Deputy Prime Minister
Herb Gray told a news conference shortly after arriving at the 178-country meeting to discuss the treaty's
rules. "We certainly disagree with them on this. We will ratify the protocol without the United States."
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien also expressed Canada's desire to ratify the
accord. Speaking at the summit of the Group of Eight industrialized
countries in Genoa, Italy, Mr. Chrétien told reporters that Canada is making
"technical points" at the conference in Bonn but that "we want to ratify the
treaty."
U.S. President George W. Bush rejected the 1997 Kyoto accord in March,
saying it would hurt the U.S. economy. The U.S. delegation at the Bonn
conference is taking a largely passive role.
Mr. Gray, standing in for Environment Minister David Anderson, who
recently fractured his pelvis, said he had come to "push for progress" but
would also defend Canadian demands for generous schemes to credit
nations for managing forests and soil, which absorb carbon from the air.
The issue pits Canada, Japan, Australia and Russia against the European
Union in one of the key disputes at the negotiations. The Europeans want
strict limits on such credits.
Canada is among those advancing a proposal that would allow countries to
negotiate credits individually for the contribution that their forests make to
the fight against climate change. It would be a major change from the
approach pursued fruitlessly until now of trying to devise a universal formula
for forest credits.
"What we're suggesting is that there be a simple recognition of the
importance of comprehensive forest management," a senior Canadian official
said Thursday in Bonn.
Government ministers arrived at the conference on Thursday to kick it into
higher gear. Delegations agreed on procedural rules Friday that concentrate
the bargaining among a group of 35 countries.
"The first serious negotiations are going on as we speak," Canadian delegate
Norine Smith said Friday. But she added that the agenda for the high-level
talks, due to run through Sunday, was "very ambitious."
Mr. Gray said an accord on the Kyoto pact's rules may be possible only at
the next session, set for late October in Morocco.
The accord pledges industrialized countries to cut emissions of man-made
pollutants by 5.2 per cent of 1990 levels by 2012. Scientists believe the
emissions are heating up the Earth's atmosphere.
To go into force, the treaty needs the backing of 55 countries, representing
55 per cent of the industrialized world's emissions.
Senior government officials are negotiating how to implement the emissions
cuts acceptable enough to bring the Kyoto accord into force by next year.
The climate talks were at a critical phase, with agreement needed on key
issues including financing of clean-air projects in poorer countries and the
schemes to credit countries for forest management.
Commenting on the urgency of the talks, EU Environment Commissioner
Margot Wallstrom said: "We have no time to lose. It is a matter of political
will, a matter of giving and taking in the remaining days."
Olivier Deleuze, Belgian's Secretary of State for the Environment, said the
first goal is to reach a deal — but that in the longer term the European Union
wants to bring the United States back into the treaty.
"We are in a rescue operation of the Kyoto process," Mr. Wallstrom said.
"We are so occupied with trying to do that we have no plans on how to
bring the Americans back on board."
Washington has stated that it is drafting its own plan for halting global
warming. The plan, however, was not prepared in time for the Bonn
conference. |
