Climate Conference

Climate Conference NOTWITHSTANDING the outcome of the climate conference under way in Kyoto, there is no gainsaying that the global movement towards an agreement on reversing the disastrous consequences of economic/industrial growth has been impressively rapid. In the five years since 1992 when 150 countries signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro there has been considerable momentum on the issue which is unlikely to dissipate even with a likely stalemate at Kyoto. In fact the Kyoto conference will, by the increasing polarisation among nations and by bringing into focus the inherent contradictions between the current global growth path and sustaining a viable environment, perhaps introduce a dash of much needed pragmatism, especially among developing countries.