Following the meeting of the Cabinet, Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesperson Cemil Çiçek said that they decided to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
“As of today, 176 countries have become part of the protocol. The implementation of the protocol in the first five years is almost over and the preparations for the next phase have started. Turkey had not signed this protocol for its own reasons. Not signing it has also kept Turkey from the negotiations to a certain extent. Should Turkey have reservations about the next phase or want to bring up conditions unique to it, then it should embrace it and be an active participant in it. Therefore, our government decides for the ratification of the protocol. It will soon be sent to the Parliament for ratification.
According to Çiçek, signing Kyoto is meaningful even at this stage:
“Unless you are part of this convention, you will not be able to be part of the preparations that are about the results of the implementation of the first five years. You cannot be actively involved in this work, unless you sign the protocol. Secondly, you cannot add special conditions of your country to it, if there are any. Therefore, although Turkey may have had reasons for not signing this protocol, this is past now. Turkey needs to embrace this protocol, if it wants to take active part in it after 2012.”
The Kyoto Protocol is the first legally binding international agreement to control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It draws its name from the City of Kyoto, Japan, where it was negotiated in 1997. It requires industrialized countries to reduce climate change-causing GHG emissions by roughly 5% below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. It is considered a modest first phase and is expected be succeeded by a series of new agreements to be negotiated during the coming years
The Kyoto Protocol came into force in February 2005 when at least 55 countries producing at least 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions ratified the agreement. The only major industrialized countries to refuse to ratify the Kyoto Protocol are the United States (the world largest greenhouse gas emitter) and Australia. Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol in December 2002, agreeing to cut its GHG emissions to 6% below its 1990 levels. To date 173 countries have ratified
When Turkey signs the protocol, it will have to reduce its gas emissions by 60% to the level of 0.5%, which is 1.3% now. (EZÖ/TB)
*This news was largely quoted from NTVMSNBC.
