Gov’t climatologists back call for global warming summit

Government climatologists supported yesterday the call of the United Nations for a world leaders’ summit on climate change to address environmental issues like global warming.

This is the right time to address climate change to help lessen the impact of human activities on the weather and environment, said Dr. Flaviana Hilario, chief of the Climatology and Agrometeorology Branch of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Reports said the summit was tentatively planned in September and would focus on finding a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol on the issue of eliminating greenhouse gases linked to the forecast of heat waves, floods and droughts.

Hilario said a representative of Pagasa is now in Paris attending a conference where the fourth assessment report on climate science is being discussed.

The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement made under 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.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, 35 industrial nations agreed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by five percent by 2008 up to 2012.

The treaty was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, opened for signature on March 16, 1998, and closed on March 15, 1999. The agreement came into force on Feb. 16, 2005 following ratification by Russia on Nov. 18 the year before. As of December 2006, a total of 169 countries and other governmental entities have ratified the agreement.

Reports said the United States, although a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from it. The signature alone is symbolic as the Kyoto Protocol is non-binding on the US unless ratified. As of 2005, the US is the largest single emitter of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.

In 2001, the US argued that the Kyoto Protocol would cost jobs and wrongly excluded developing nations from goals for 2012.