[Index]
Public must
call political leaders to account
as world marks Environment Day on 5th
June
Statement on
World Environment Day by Mr. Kaj Bärlund,
Director of the Environment and Human
Settlements Division
of the United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UNECE)
Will the celebrations of World Environment
Day be marred by dark clouds as the
world's industrialized countries seem
poised to lose the first battle in the
war against climate change? Recent estimates
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) suggest that the countries
that have signed up to the Kyoto Protocol
will actually increase their greenhouse
gas emissions by 10% by 2010 instead
of reducing them by 5% as the Protocol
stipulates.
According to IPCC estimates,
emissions will continue to grow up until
2020, when they will be 23% higher than
in 2000. These numbers do not include
those countries that are not part of
the Kyoto Protocol such as the United
States and Australia, where greenhouse
gas emissions are also on the rise.
These developments
are all the more disturbing as recent
high-level meetings have stressed the
urgency of implementing the Kyoto Protocol
to protect our environment and our health.
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development
in Johannesburg last September and at
the "Environment for Europe" Ministerial
Conference in Kiev only two weeks ago,
countries reaffirmed their commitment
to limiting the emissions of greenhouse
gases.
Unfortunate, there
now seems to be a widening gap between
political declarations and the work
on the ground. If this gap cannot be
narrowed swiftly, there is little hope
of seeing the Kyoto targets met. In
that case, climate change will accelerate
rather than slow down.
Today, 5th June, the
world marks Environment Day. If we want
to counter the threat of climate change,
now is the time to give the Kyoto Protocol
and its new policy tools a strong political
boost. Members of the public have to
put more pressure on their political
decision makers, and politicians have
to take their responsibility more seriously.
Otherwise the Kyoto process will amount
to one of the worst setbacks in international
environmental policy.
For further information,
please contact:
Mr Kaj BARLUND,
Director
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements
Division
Palais des Nations, office 334
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41 (0)
22 917 23 70
Fax: +41 (0) 22 907 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/env
Ref: ECE/ENV/03/P18