IS THE US BLOCKING ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS

[Anonymous]

US ‘blocks environment progress’
There was widespread agreement on the need to cut emissions
Germany’s
environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel, says the United States has
blocked progress on two key issues to protect the global environment.He
was speaking after a two-day meeting of environment ministers in the
German city of Potsdam.The issues were carbon emissions trading and
rewarding developing nations for protecting their natural assets, he
said.Mr Gabriel said the US opposition was “not a surprise”.The Potsdam
conference brought together ministers from the Group of Eight leading
industrialised nations – the United States, Canada, France, UK,
Germany, Japan, Italy and Russia – and Brazil, India, China Mexico and
South Africa from the developing world.

‘Not subtle’
Ministers
stressed that the meeting had shown that there was a good deal of
consensus on the scale and nature of the problem of climate change –
but a lack of agreement on the tools to tackle itThe BBC’s Matt McGrath
in Potsdam says there was a widespread acceptance that sustainable
economic development had to go hand in hand with efforts to cut
emissions of carbon dioxide.But disagreements surfaced over specifics
such as extending the global system of carbon trading, one of the
central planks of any proposed deal to curb emissions.According to one
delegate the United States was “not subtle” in its opposition to carbon
trading, and to another proposal that would pay developing countries to
preserve rainforests.”We find this regrettable,” Mr Gabriel told
reporters.But he said: “I would have been disappointed if I’d expected
something different.” 

[Author]

March 20, 2007 at 9:23 AM