Bali blog from Union of Concerned Scientists

Thursday, December 06, 2007

For the next two weeks, Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), will report from the United Nations global warming conference in Bali, Indonesia.

An e-mail from Knobloch explains the significance of the conference:

In 1992, countries from around the world, including the United States, signed the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—an international treaty addressing the issue of global warming. To date, 192 nations have ratified the treaty.

In 1997, at a meeting in Kyoto, Japan, the UNFCCC was strengthened by an amendment that set legally binding targets and timelines for reducing global warming pollution from developed nations. The “Kyoto Protocol” entered into force in 2005 and has been ratified by all industrialized countries—except the United States.

The Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. Therefore, a new framework of deeper emission reductions needs to be developed and approved. Countries hope to leave Indonesia with a “Bali Roadmap” that will lay out this new framework and, for the first time, include guidelines for developing as well as developed countries.

You can follow Knobloch's daily reports on the USC's Bali blog.