Kyoto Protocol Comes In From The Cold 

MIKE SHANAHAN / Independent Online (S Africa) 1oct04

[Text of the Kyoto Protocol at UN]

The Russian government has approved the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, which sets formal targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and sent it to the country's parliament for ratification.

To become binding, the protocol requires ratification by 55 percent of signatories, including countries that account for 55 percent of developed countries' emissions. If - as is widely expected - the Russian parliament gives its approval, the treaty will come into force 90 days after Russia's instrument of ratification is received by the United Nations in New York.

Describing the news as "an inspiring signal to the international community," Joke Waller-Hunter, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change said in a press release that Russian ratification would re-energise international co-operation on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The protocol will bind 36 industrialised nations to reduce emissions of the so-called greenhouse gases, which many scientists consider responsible for global warming and climate change.

The treaty also has significant implications for developing countries. Although they will not be required to reduce emissions towards specific targets, they will be required to act to limit production of greenhouse gases.

Among the features of the protocol is the encouragement of international cooperation. The "clean development mechanism", for example, will encourage rich countries to finance projects that reduce emissions in poor countries in return for credit against their own emissions targets.

Developing nations can also benefit from the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund, which they can use to pay for measures to anticipate and protect themselves from negative impacts of climate change.

"It's the step we've all been waiting for," says Crispian Olver, director-general of South Africa's department of environmental affairs And tourism. "From food security to health we see climate change as a very big threat right across Africa, so the decision is very good news for us."

As the Russian parliament is dominated by president Putin's United Russia party and approves nearly all bills backed by the president, it is expected to endorse the treaty in the coming weeks.

The move isolates Australia and the United States - both of which oppose the protocol - and has major political implications for Russia, bringing the country closer to Europe and smoothing its entry into the World Trade Organisation.

Governments will next discuss their Kyoto targets at a major conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 6 - 17 December. Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme said in a statement on 30 September that those negotiations "must ensure that developed nations meet their initial emission reduction targets while ensuring sufficient funds are made available to developing countries to allow them to reduce their vulnerability to global warming".

source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=iol1096721010530S312 6oct04

How Russia 'Flip-Flopped' on Kyoto 

Independent Online (S Africa) 30sep04

Moscow - Russia's government approved the Kyoto Protocol on Thursday and sent the UN climate change pact to parliament's lower house, the State Duma, for ratification.

Its stance on the treaty has vacillated down the years:

11 MARCH 1999
Russia signs Kyoto Protocol

10 NOVEMBER 2001
After months of wrangling among remaining signatories following President George Bush's withdrawal of US support, Russian delegation chief Alexander Bedritsky accepts enhanced terms at meeting in Marrakesh and says Russia ready to ratify.

30 AUGUST 2002
Deputy economy minister gives first public indication Russia might yet reject Kyoto. Mukhamed Tsikanov tells Reuters at Earth Summit in Johannesburg there is "risk" Duma will not ratify. EU says Moscow seeking better deal and concessions on other issues.

3 SEPTEMBER 2002
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov tells Earth Summit: "Ratification will take place in the very nearest future."

28 JUNE 2003
President Vladimir Putin gives mixed signal: "If everything that was written in the Kyoto Protocol came into effect, it would not solve the problem. It is true, as my European colleagues say, that it is a step in the right direction."

4 JULY 2003
Tsikanov says: "Ratification does not carry any special risks for the Russian Federation. We are not against it."

5 SEPTEMBER 2003
"All the documents are ready for ratification, they are currently with the government," says Deputy Natural Resources Minister Irina Osokina before Moscow climate change summit.

18 SEPTEMBER 2003
"We should approach ratification gradually," Duma says.

29 SEPTEMBER 2003
Putin tells global warming summit in Moscow: "Russia is a northern country and it would not be scary for it to be two or three degrees warmer." He calls ratification "part of a complex of difficult and unclear problems".

2 DECEMBER 2003
"The Kyoto Protocol places significant limitations on the economic growth of Russia," Kremlin economist Andrei Illarionov says. "In its current form, this protocol cannot be ratified."

21 MAY 2004
"We are in favour of the Kyoto process. We support it. We have a few worries about the obligations which we will have to take on," Putin says. "I cannot say how things will be 100 percent, because ratification is not an issue for the president but for parliament, but we will speed up this process."

8 SEPTEMBER 2004
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov criticises the pact in a draft report saying government not convinced treaty will lead to significant new investment or income and adding: "The Kyoto Protocol ... is ineffective for resolving the main duty of the convention - stabilising greenhouse gas concentration."

30 SEPTEMBER 2004
Government approves ratification at cabinet meeting. 

source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1096552260913B251 6oct04