Kyoto Protocol

Term Paper # 59355

Environmental Studies > Economics and Policy
Hot Topics > Global Warming
International Relations

Kyoto Protocol

A discussion of whether the Kyoto Protocol is dead even before it has been fully implemented.

2,983 words () | 14 sources | MLA | 2005

Paper Summary:

Through an analysis of the status of the Kyoto Protocol and the efforts that were made to revive it, this paper argues that it is doubtful that any of the Rio, Johannesburg, or the Bonn Summits will have the capacity to do so, considering that, in the final analysis, there are no mechanisms for the application of international environmental treaties.

From the Paper:

"Global warming which is scientifically argued to be induced by certain gasses referred to as "greenhouse gasses," is of major environmental concern. Its impact upon the environment is incalculable with its being sufficient to say that it will definitely change almost all aspects of it. It is clear that man cannot afford the destruction of the environment or its dramatic change as his life is sustained by its life, health and very existence. In acknowledgment of this, a global decision was made to fight global warming. As Maurice F. Strong argues in a Journal of International Affairs article, this may have been interpreted as a positive step in the right direction insofar as it implied awareness that environmental issues were, by definition, global in nature and, consequently, required a global solution. Thus, officials from 150 nations met in Kyoto, Japan, to figure out a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A treaty was agreed on called the Kyoto Protocol, in which the industrial nations pledged to lower their emissions by 2012."