Climate talks open over dying Kyoto Protocol

DURBAN, South Africa?? Countries will make a last-ditch effort to save a dying Kyoto Protocol at global climate talks starting on Monday aimed at cutting the greenhouse gas emissions blamed by scientists for rising sea levels, intense storms and crop failures.

Kyoto, which was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 2005, commits most developed states to binding emissions targets. The talks are the last chance to set another round of targets before the first commitment period ends in 2012.

Major parties have been at loggerheads for years, warnings of climate disaster are becoming more dire and diplomats worry whether host South Africa is up to the challenge of brokering the tough discussions among nearly 200 countries that run from Monday to December 9 in the coastal city of Durban.

There is hope for a deal to help developing countries most hurt by global warming and a stop-gap measure to save the protocol. There is also a chance advanced economies responsible for most emissions will pledge deeper cuts at the talks known as the Conference of the Parties, or COP 17.

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But the debt crisis hitting the euro zone and the United States makes it unlikely those areas will provide more aid or impose new measures that could hurt their growth prospects.

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"The South Africans are desperate to ensure that the COP does not fail, but they will not be able to deliver much," said Ian Fry, lead negotiator for the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, which could be erased by rising sea levels.

Fry blamed the United States, which has not ratified Kyoto, for blocking progress and said: "The EU seems to be going weak at the knees and will opt for a soft continuation of the Kyoto Protocol with a possible review process in 2015 to think about new legal options."

'Revolution'
Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N. climate secretariat, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the stakes for the negotiations are high, underscored by new scientific studies.

Under discussion was "nothing short of the most compelling energy, industrial, behavioral revolution that humanity has ever seen," she said.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu led a rally at a soccer stadium late Sunday urging negotiators to be more ambitious during what were expected to be difficult talks. Unseasonably cold, windy weather kept the crowd to a few hundred spectators.

Envoys said there may be a political deal struck with a new set of binding targets, but only the European Union, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Switzerland are likely to sign up at best. Any accord depends on China and the United States, the world's top emitters, agreeing binding action under a wider deal by 2015, something both have resisted for years.

Story: In climate talks West would redefine rich and poor

China is unwilling to make any commitments until Washington does while Russia, Japan and Canada say they will not sign up to a second commitment period unless the biggest emitters do too.

Emerging countries insist Kyoto must be extended and that rich nations, which have historically emitted most greenhouse gas pollution, should take on tougher targets to ensure they do their fair share in the fight against climate change.

Robin Hood tax?
Developing nations say carbon caps could hurt their growth and programs to lift millions out of poverty.

Ideas on the table include a carbon surcharge on international shipping and on air tickets, and a levy on international financial transactions ? sometimes called a Robin Hood tax.

A committee of 40 countries worked for the past year on drawing up a plan to administer the Green Climate Fund, but agreement on the final paper was blocked by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the final contentious issues will have to be thrashed out in Durban.

Todd Stern, the chief U.S. delegate, said the negotiations had been too rushed.

"I am pretty confident that we're going to be able to work these things out," he told reporters last week, without naming the problematic issues.

Video: Researcher: Steep global warming over past 50 years (on this page)

But Figueres said the future of the Kyoto accord, which calls on 37 wealthy nations to reduce carbon emissions 5 percent below 1990 levels by the end of next year, is the most difficult political issue that nations face.

"If it were easy we would have done it years ago," she said.

The stakes are high, with many experts urging immediate action. This month, two separate U.N. reports said greenhouse gases had reached record levels in the atmosphere while a warming climate is expected to lead to heavier rainfall, more floods, stronger cyclones and more intense droughts.

Despite individual emissions-cut pledges from countries and the terms of the Kyoto pact, the United Nations, International Energy Agency and others say this is not enough to prevent the planet heating up beyond 2 degrees Celsius.

Global average temperatures could rise by 3-6 degrees by the end of the century if governments fail to contain greenhouse gas emissions, bringing unprecedented destruction as glaciers melt and sea levels rise, the OECD said last week.

Story: After new leak, climatologist takes case to public

The warning from the OECD, whose main paymasters are the United States and other developed economies, underscored fears that the commitment to curb climate-heating gases could falter at a time when much of the world is deep in debt.

"The COP is being held on the African continent which bears the greatest social injustices due to the impacts of climate change," environmental group Greenpeace said.

South Africa has said it wants to advance an African agenda at the conference but is seen by many diplomats as not having the diplomatic muscle or prestige to broker complex talks.

As the world's poorest continent, Africa is also the most vulnerable to the extreme weather conditions and rising sea levels brought by climate change. In the Horn of Africa, some 13 million people are going hungry due to prolonged drought. In Somalia, the crisis is compounded by conflict.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45459824/ns/us_news-environment/

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