Top polluters divided on climate change goals

Top polluters divided on climate change goals
by Kyoko Hasegawa
Sun Mar 16, 7:40 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080316/sc_afp/japang20climatewarming_080316114022

Summary:

The world’s top 20 greenhouse gas emitters attempted this weekend to create a draft for the next successor to the Kyoto Protocol . The Kyoto Protocol was adopted into the international Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1997, which was created in hope of reducing Greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The main problem is rich, developing nations were divided on their ideas and roles. Representatives from the 20 countries responsible for the world’s emissions, (what we put into the atmosphere, that cause global warming), tried to decide on Kyoto’s successor once its obligations end in 2012. The most recent UN conference was in December in Bali where a post-Kyoto deal was set. The next meeting is in Bangkok at the end of March.

Disagreements cause the most problems on this matter. The United States feels that it is unfair that no demands are placed on developing nations. Japan, who is not meeting its own Kyoto targets, thinks a sectoral approach would be the best. This would set energy efficiency goals for each industry. South Africa disagrees and says that a sectoral approach would not work knowing that developed and developing countries are far apart on sectoral approaches. In July Japan plans to host the Group of Eight summit of rich nations, which consists of Britain, Canada, Germany, France Japan, Russia, Italy and the United States. They plan to make progress in a climate deal. Last year the G8 summit in Germany said that the rich nations would consider decreasing emissions in half, by 2050, but there was no true commitment. Yurika Ayukawa of the World Wildlife Fund said, “What we want of the Japanese government at the G8 is leadership, which means to have a mid-term goal by 2020 of 25-40 percent reduction target from 1990 levels.”

Reactions:

A) The AP World History theme this article relates to is State-building, expansion and conflict because all these nations have conflicting ideas of how to handle climate change. Each developed nation as well as each developing nation’s ideas differ. While Japan wants a sectoral approach, South Africa doesn’t believe that approach would work.
B) The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol of the international Framework Convention on Climate Change. This was agreement was made on December 11th 1997 in Kyoto. This agreement supposedly makes the 36 developed countries reduce the greenhouse gas emissions to certain levels specified in the treaty. The Kyoto Protocol is viewed as an important first step towards global emission reduction, which greatly decreases global warming and dangerous climate change. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 then a new international framework, must be ratified to continue emission reductions.
C and D) The point of view in this article is probably a Japanese female or male reporting from Japan. This person is an outsider to these events not being involved in the government. The point of view of this article may affect how the issue is being reported. Assuming this reporter is Japanese he/she, may feel Japan is doing more than other countries, and this person may not support the other countries ideas. When the reported writes, “The United States shunned the Kyoto Protocol,” and “South Africa was particularly vocal against Japanese proposal,” may mean that this reporter feels the United States is not doing what it should, and this person may feel South Africa is out of line.
E) The point of view that is missing from this article is the view of a member of the US government. The United States was mentioned a few times in this article, but the reader never gets to hear an American’s point of view on climate change, and ways to prevent it. I think their views would differ from the other countries.
F) This article shocked me a bid since I found out that these nations are not really agreeing fully on how to better the Earth. Climate change and global warming are major problems, and we need developing and developed countries all to agree on one thing, so a solid plan can be put into affect. Overall I did enjoy this article since it opened my eyes to how the world governments process new ideas on dangerous climate change.