With the United States,and a few other developed countries,dead against any extension to the current global arrangement on climate change,the December summit in Copenhagen might well sound the death knell for the Kyoto Protocol and replace it with another agreement or a deal that is more favourable to the developed nations. Ahead of the crucial CoP15 (15th Conference of Parties) in Copenhagen,the buzz in the negotiating teams across the world is that there was little chance of the Kyoto Protocol,in its current form,being extended beyond 2012,because of stiff resistance from the US,the worlds biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and currently outside the global climate change agreement. The Kyoto Protocol,which came into force in 2005,puts the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions solely on some developed countries (called Annex-I countries) in a time-bound manner. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol,during which the Annex-I countries were required to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels,is coming to an end in 2012. The Copenhagen summit is expected to fix new and more ambitious targets for these countries for the second commitment period (2013-2020). The US,which has signed the Kyoto Protocol but refused to ratify it,along with some other Annex-I countries,however,is putting immense pressure to change the nature of this global arrangement,which incidentally is the only one of its kind so heavily loaded against the existing power structure in the world. The view that a new arrangement on climate change was almost inevitable has now found some resonance in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat as well. A UNFCCC spokesman,responding to a questionnaire by The Indian Express,admitted that a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol was not the necessary outcome of the Copenhagen summit. The legal nature of the Copenhagen agreed outcome remains to be seen. It will be premature to say if the result will be a continuation of the Kyoto Protocol,an entirely new treaty,or a set of decisions that enter into force in 2013,or a combination of two of these options or even all three. The legal form will follow the political function, said UNFCCC spokesperson John Hay. Hay also suggested that there was little chance of the US coming on board the Kyoto Protocol and targets for the second commitment period,if possible,would have to be negotiated once again without the participation of the worlds biggest emitter. A second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol could be agreed to without the participation of the US and the commitments could be captured in a separate document, he said. With less than four months to go for the Copenhagen summit and no agreement in sight,the UNFCCC was hoping for a last minute breakthrough to swing a climate deal in December. Hay said even the Kyoto Protocol was conceived at the last minute during the climate change conference in 1997. The UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) has no plan B (in case there is no agreement at Copenhagen). There is no contingency plan. We are very much working on the premise that Copenhagen will succeed, he said,adding that a significant impetus was expected from the climate meetings in New York in the third week of September just ahead of the UN General Assembly session. Ramesh writes to PM on satellite for GHGs NEW DELHI: India is working on its own satellite exclusively to monitor greenhouse gases (GHGs). Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue after he held discussions with the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO). The proposal for the satellite is now under discussion with the Planning Commission. The satellite will study the dispersal over time and space of GHGs like methane and carbon dioxide. As per ISROs plan,the satellite is planned for a 2011-end launch. As per plan,the sensors in the satellite will take measurements through high-spectral resolution (sensing different frequencies and colours) through near infrared,short-wave infrared and thermal regions. The US and Japan already have their satellites to monitor GHGs. India too should take a global and regional lead in this, Ramesh told The Indian Express. NEHA SINHA
