Kyoto Treaty becomes legally binding on February 16
There are no reviewed versions of this page, so it may not have been checked for adherence to standards.
November 18 2004, Nairobi. The United Nations has announced that the Kyoto Treaty, which its signatories claim will counter the greenhouse effect and global climate changes, will take effect on February 16, 2005.
The treaty could not be made legally binding to those countries who signed it earlier, the BBC reports, because they did not make up for the required 55% of the world's emission of greenhouse gases. Last month, Russia announced they would sign the treaty, pushing that percentage to 55%. Andrei Denisov, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, handed Kofi Annan the official papers today.
Several industrialized nations around the world have refused to ratify the Kyoto Treaty, in particular the United States of America and Australia. The governments of both countries argue that signing the protocol would cause an estimated 3% decline in GDP, and thus stagnation of their economies, while resulting in only small total greenhouse gas reductions worldwide. The also point out that other major nations, notably China, are extempt from the treaty provisions.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.
