|
CLIMATE CHANGE - MASS PROTESTS Dec 2005
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Campaigners in London and Edinburgh have joined a
global protest taking place in 32 countries in a mass
call for action over climate change.
Thousands marched through
London in a protest which ended at the US embassy.
Dozens of protesters marched to
the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh via the Royal Mile.
The marches coincide with
UN
climate talks in Canada attended by Environment
Secretary Margaret Beckett and Environment Minister
Elliott Morley.
Carbon
billowing into the atmospher
The protests were organised by
the Campaign Against Climate Change. Campaigners in London went past
Downing Street, and a letter demanding more Government
commitment to emission reductions was handed in to No
10.
Former environment minister
Michael Meacher said "I certainly think government
will be watching this very carefully. And I think it
will have an increasing impact on public opinion.
"I'd like to think we may
be doing our little bit to add to the cacophony around
the world in our anger at President Bush still
distancing himself from what the rest of us throughout
the world believe is absolutely necessary."
'We are watching'
The Edinburgh march began at
East Market Street at 1100 GMT and finished at the
Scottish Parliament about an hour later. Green MSP Mark Ballard, who
addressed the protesters, said: "The eyes of future
generations are on Montreal. "Across the world, more
than 30 protests will make sure that our leaders know
that we are watching them too." He said: "Tony Blair has
caved in to the US approach of abandoning targets on
reducing emissions in favour of complacency."
Protestors
march in London The Montreal talks follow on
from the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in 1997 and
called for 30% cuts by 2020. Mr Meacher earlier told BBC
Radio 4's Today programme further reductions in
greenhouse gas emissions - widely thought to contribute
to rising temperatures - are vital. "We need now to aim for
more. That is what climate change is telling us. We need
to say minus 25% by 2025. "I do think it's important
that we don't kowtow to US demands to scrap Kyoto.
Because whatever concession we make to the Bush
administration we will get nothing in return, just like
we got nothing in return over Iraq."
He said the Bush administration
"will never sign up to any meaningful agreement on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions". Mr Meacher said it was more
important to sign up developing countries such as China
and India to climate change protocols. " I do
think it's important that we don't kowtow to US demands
to scrap Kyoto"
Michael
Meacher -
Ex-environment minister
Campaigners
target US over Kyoto -
the international agreement on emissions
coming into force on Wednesday.
Police said about 500 people
had marched to the United States embassy, carrying flags
of the 136 countries that have ratified the treaty.
The US, the world's largest
polluter, withdrew from the treaty in 2001, citing
economic concerns. The protocol, agreed in 1997,
sets legally-binding emissions reductions. Nearly 180 nations have signed
up, but some have not yet formally ratified it.
The US - the world's biggest
polluter - pulled out of Kyoto 2001
It binds industrialised nations
to reduce worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases by an
average of 5.2% below their 1990 levels over the next
decade. The treaty nearly stalled after
the US, which created 36% of emissions in 1990, pulled
out. The protocol needed to be
ratified by countries who were responsible for at least
55% of the world's carbon emissions in 1990 to come into
force. However, in 2004 Russia agreed to sign up,
allowing that requirement to be met.
Phil
Thornhill, of the Campaign
Against Climate Change, which organised the march, said:
"We want to express just how aghast we are the US
is not joining the rest of the world.
"Scientists say we have
about 10 years to save the environment, we really have
to change the rate at which we act."
Green MEP Caroline Lucas said
it was time to get tough with Washington. "By refusing to sign up to
Kyoto, the US is demonstrating - yet again - that it is
a rogue state pursuing its perceived national
self-interest to the exclusion of the peoples of the
rest of the world.
"This is unacceptable and
the world community must now look at ways of holding the
US accountable for damage its isolationist policies are
inflicting on the rest of the world," she added.
Friends of the Earth director
Tony Juniper said: "We are here to protest against
the Bush administration and celebrate the fact Kyoto
will come into force this week, despite the Bush
administration trying its hardest to kill it."
Norman
Baker - Former Environment spokesman, Lib Dems
Constituency:
Lewes
Date
of birth: 26 July 1957
Telephone:
020 7219 3000 http://www.normanbaker.org.uk/ Lib Dems environment spokesman
Norman Baker told the crowd it was "appalling"
only 3% of energy in the UK came from renewable sources.
But Kendra Okonski of the
International Policy Network, said the US was taking the
right route. "Kyoto is a very bad
investment, because it is very costly today and only
brings benefits far in the future.
In Edinburgh, campaigners held
a "climate carnival" to highlight the effects
of global warming.
Police said about 25 protesters
turned out. Some were dressed as
mosquitoes, which they say are being found further north
as climate change takes effect.
The coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol is something to be celebrated according to Phil Thornhill, the Campaign Against Climate Change
CLIMATE CHANGE: KEY STORIES
ANALYSIS AND BACKGROUND
Warming:
The evidence
Greens enjoying political climate - 05 Nov 05 | Scotland 'Vague' targets on climate change -- 30 Jun 05 | Scotland 'Action' call over climate change - 18 May 05 | Scotland Call for action as Kyoto begins - 16 Feb 05 | Scotland Green campaigners go on the march - 12 Feb 05 | Scotland Climate talks - hoops and hot air - 26 Nov 05 | Science/Nature
RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
"The Climate Mash" is hilarious, but the effects of global warming aren't funny. Global warming puts our health, our economy and our environment at risk. It's time to demand that major polluters like ExxonMobil and others stop resisting solutions that could make a real difference.
Your voice is needed to overcome the polluters who are trying to bury clean energy solutions. NOW is the time to tell your elected representatives in Washington that you want their commitment to solving global warming.
More Climate Mash Stuff!
For The News Media
For the Fans
Credits
GLOBAL CHALLENGE
Climate change is a global challenge and requires a global solution. Greenhouse gas emissions have the same impact on the atmosphere whether they originate in Washington, London or Beijing. Consequently, action by one country to reduce emissions will do little to slow global warming unless other countries act as well. Ultimately, an effective strategy will require commitments and action by all the major emitting countries.
The international response to climate change was launched in 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, with the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Convention established a long-term objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system". It also set a voluntary goal of reducing emissions from developed countries to 1990 levels by 2000 - a goal that most countries did not meet.
Recognizing that stronger action was needed, countries negotiated the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which sets binding targets to reduce emissions 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The Protocol entered into force on February 16, 2005, which made the Protocol's emissions targets binding legal commitments for those industrialized countries that ratified it (the United States and Australia have not ratified it). In addition, the market-based mechanisms established under the Protocol, including international emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism, became fully operational with the Protocol's entry into force.
Attention now is turning to strengthening the international framework for the years following the Kyoto Protocol's initial commitment period (2008 - 2012). The overriding challenge is to forge an agreement that includes all major emitting countries - both developed and developing - and begins signficant long-term reductions in global emissions. In 2003, the Pew Center engaged more than 100 experts, policymakers, and stakeholders from nearly three dozen countries to address this issue. This initiative continues with the Climate Dialogue at Pocantico, a series of off-line discussions among 25 senior policymakers and stakeholders from 15 countries exploring options for next steps in the international climate effort. The final report of the Pocantico dialogue was released on November 15, 2005.
CONTACTS:
UK
Environment Agency Greater
London Authority
FOR
MORE INFORMATION: International
Reports
DESERTIFICATION COP HISTORY
CLIMATE CHANGE COP HISTORY
BIODIVERSITY COP HISTORY
MORE LOCAL AGENDA 21 UK PARLIAMENT A-Z HOUSE OF LORDS A-Z UK COUNCIL'S AGENDA 21
A taste for adventure capitalists
Solar Cola - a healthier alternative
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This website is Copyright © 1999 & 2019. The bird logos and name Solar Navigator are trademarks. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are hereby acknowledged. Max Energy Limited is an educational charity. |
