Kyoto support reiterated
Tuesday 16 December 2003
Ministerial discussions on global warming in Milan have ended with a strong show of support for the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, albeit without a firm decision from Russia. EU Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said: "If we want to tackle climate change there is no alternative to the Kyoto Protocol. It is an ingenious treaty because it allows all countries to participate in the fight against climate change according to their economic potential. If we were to go back to the drawing board to negotiate another treaty we would loose five or ten years at least. But climate change doesn't go away."
All 120 nations that have so far ratified the Protocol reiterated their commitment at the ninth Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP9).
The US delegations’ continued objection to the treaty failed to detract optimism from environmental quarters over the possibility of a fully implemented Kyoto, with Russia involvement, in 2004.
Friends of the Earth's International Climate Campaigner Roger Higman said: "The Kyoto Protocol is the only international treaty to cut the emissions causing dangerous climate change. US attempts to derail it have failed. The stage is now set for the Russians to ratify Kyoto and bring it into force.”