10 Dec 2012:
Doha Talks Preserve Kyoto,
But Achieve Few Meaningful Commitments
As the latest round of global climate talks ended over the weekend in Doha, Qatar, delegates approved a weakened extension of the Kyoto Protocol, as expected, but obtained no commitments from major emitting nations on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While nearly 200 nations agreed to extend through 2020 the emissions-limiting Kyoto accord
, which would have expired at the end of this month, three previous signatory nations — Canada, Russia, and Japan — all abandoned the agreement. The U.S. had never ratified the accord. So while the continuation of Kyoto preserves a framework for emissions reductions, with the next critical round of negotiations scheduled for 2015, the Doha deal left many increasingly pessimistic
about whether the UN process can achieve meaningful results. “Much much more is needed if we are to save this process from being simply a process for the sake of process, a process that simply provides for talk and no action,” said Kieren Keke, foreign minister for the Pacific island state of Nauru. The Doha talks did yield, for the first time, assurances of financial aid for poor nations that incur “loss and damage
” — including from extreme weather events — as a result of climate change.
Yale Environment 360 is
a publication of the
Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies
Yale Environment 360
articles are now available in Spanish and Portuguese on Universia
, the online educational network. Visit the site.
Business & Innovation
Policy & Politics
Pollution & Health
Science & Technology
Antarctica and the Arctic
Central & South America
Photographer Robert Wintner documents the exquisite beauty and biodiversity of Cuba’s unspoiled coral reefs. View the gallery.
is now available for mobile devices at e360.yale.edu/mobile
The Warriors of Qiugang
, a Yale Environment 360
video, chronicles a Chinese village’s fight against a polluting chemical plant. It was nominated for a 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Watch the video.
Top Image: aerial view of Iceland
. © Google & TerraMetrics.
A three-part series Tainted Harvest
looks at the soil pollution crisis in China, the threat it poses to the food supply, and the complexity of any cleanup. Read the series.