Dec 4, 2007
BALI, Indonesia — U.S. delegates at the U.N. climate conference insisted Monday that they would not be a “roadblock” to a new international agreement aimed at reducing potentially catastrophic greenhouse gases.
But Washington refused to endorse mandatory emissions cuts, which are seen by many governmental delegations at the meeting as crucial for reining in rising temperatures.
Faced with melting polar ice and worsening droughts, delegates from nearly 190 nations opened the conference with pleas for a new climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. That deal required the 36 signatories to cut emissions by 5 percent.
A key goal of the conference will be to draw in a skeptical United States, now the sole industrial power that has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, citing fears that it would hurt the U.S. economy because cuts aren’t required of China and India.
“We’re not here to be a roadblock,” Harlan Watson, a top U.S. climate negotiator, told reporters. “We’re committed to a successful conclusion, and we’re going to work very constructively to make that happen.”
The Americans, however, were forced to repeatedly defend their refusal to embrace emission caps after Australia’s new prime minister signed papers Monday to ratify the 1997 Kyoto agreement — reversing the decision of his nation’s previous, conservative government.
Delegates in Bali erupted in applause when Australia’s representative, Howard Bamsey, told the session that his country was jumping on board.
Still, the United Nations acknowledged that no pact can be effective without the Americans, and the European Union said it expected the U.S. delegation to play a constructive role in the days to come.
Conference leaders urged delegates to move quickly to launch negotiations on a climate agreement that many hope will be completed by 2009.
Source : http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=30969&sid=1&fid=1
