The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol. Kyoto had the power to protect people’s right to development and their future with one little catch – like every good insurance policy, it had to be renewed. And the renewal date for the second commitment period is set for 31 Dec 2012.
The Kyoto Protocol (KP) has been in trouble since US decided not to ratify it. Since then, negotiations to find global solutions to climate change have evolved into two tracks, with one working on an agreement the US might eventually participate in and one building on the work Kyoto could deliver now. The Ad hoc working group on the Kyoto Protocol was established to ensure a second Kyoto commitment period so the world could have a tool for global collaboration on climate change – while the US got its act together. Pledges were noted. Markets were established. And projects to reduce carbon DIE oxide levels were set up in countries all over the world.
Until, Copenhagen happened. Governments were so busy involving the biggest country in the world in a dream treaty that they forgot to ensure the future of the Kyoto Protocol and left it out for the talks in Cancun the next year. The fight has always been to defer progress in one track because of lack of progress in another. Problems faced at local levels in India – where the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, says that the work hasn’t been done because of the state gov’t. The state gov’t in turn says due to the lack of progress in the matter at the central gov’t level, they would have to delay decision on proposed action. A simple task of cleaning dustbins or a reviewing tax on property becomes stalled, even though all three levels have the capacity to fulfill and complete the task. The idea is crystal clear- to think and go green.
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