After the Durban conference adopted its "roadmap," the European Union agreed to keep a rump version of the
Kyoto Protocol alive by imposing further greenhouse gas emission reductions on its taxpayers through 2017.
But it remains unclear whether the nearly 200 parties can strike a deal, with countries still divided over the issues, including the future of the
Kyoto Protocol, which has pitted Japan against developing countries.
Speaking at the European Parliament in Brussels, Tuvalu's Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia said: " The impact of global warming menaces the very existence of our nation and threatens the survival of the human species." While Tuvalu's earlier proposal was opposed by India, China and other richer developing countries, the response to the demand for an amendment to the
Kyoto Protocol was more nuanced.
The UAE ratified the
Kyoto Protocol in January 2005.
Ratification of the
Kyoto Protocol was considered and approved by the first Executive Council meeting of the Government, and the Governor-General granted approval for Australia to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol at the PM's request.
Rudd said he had signed the "instrument of ratification" of the
Kyoto Protocol, and that it would come into force 90 days after the paperwork was received by the United Nations.
Australia is not a signatory to the
Kyoto Protocol, but the government uses protocol target figures to show progress in emissions reductions.
A few years later, countries agreed that a treaty with binding restrictions was needed and so, in tumultuous talks in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, they drafted an addendum to the original treaty called the
Kyoto Protocol, which requires cuts in emissions between 2008 and 2012 by about three dozen industrial powers.
Japan, steeped in a tradition of honor and commitment, must face an embarrassing truth: it has not made a dent in its
Kyoto Protocol target emissions, its 6% target reduction soaring to an 8.3% increase by 2003, which essentially put the target in the vicinity of 15%.
--Strive to meet or beat the
Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land-use policies to urban forest restoration projects to public information campaigns;
With that came talk of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, the refusal to sign on to the
Kyoto Protocol, and last, but certainly not least, the invasion of Iraq.