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Climate and Water Resource Case Study

Definitions
Overview of Climate Change
Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change
What is the world doing about climate change?
Investigating Regional and Local Projected Climate Change
Consequences of Project Climate Change
Conclusions
Chapter 7 title
Chapter 8 title

Chapter 3 - What is the world doing about climate change?

Introduction

As evidence was building that we humans were altering our environment and even perhaps the climate, many nations of the world decided to begin addressing these issues through the United Nations. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC) is an international environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The treaty aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gas in order to combat global warming.

The treaty as originally framed set no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual nations and contained no enforcement provisions; it is therefore considered legally non-binding.

Rather, the treaty included provisions for updates (called "protocols") that would set mandatory emission limits. The principal update is the Kyoto Protocol, which has become much better known than the UNFCCC itself.

Kyoto Overview

The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions of these gases.

The objective of the Kyoto Protocol is the "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted an average global rise in temperature of 1.4°C (2.5°F) to 5.8°C (10.4°F) between 1990 and 2100 (click here to see the report). Some current estimates indicate that even if successfully and completely implemented, the Kyoto Protocol will not provide a significant reduction in temperature despite the large cut in emissions. Because of this, many critics and environmentalists question the value of the Kyoto Protocol, should subsequent measures fail to produce deeper greenhouse gas emission cuts in the future.

Proponents also note that Kyoto is a first step (click here to read article), as requirements to meet the UNFCCC will be modified until the objective is met, as required by UNFCCC Article 4.2(d).

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