HAMBURG: Underlying the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was adopted in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

The convention called for stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere at levels that would allow "ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change" and "ensure that food production is not threatened."

To stay in the safe zone, many scientists believe that global temperatures must not rise more than 2 C above the levels that existed before industrialization in the 19th century.

The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, is seen as the first concrete step towards the goals set in Rio de Janeiro. Industrialized countries agreed in the Japanese city to cut emissions of primary greenhouse gases at least 5 per cent vis-a-vis 1990 levels by 2012.

To date, nearly 160 countries have ratified the protocol, which entered into force in February 2005. The United States, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has not.

In the view of many experts, the Kyoto Protocol is merely a first step. During the 12-day conference in Montreal, which begins on November 28, parties to the Kyoto Protocol will discuss climate control steps to be taken from 2013 on. A negotiating mandate or actual treaty such as the Kyoto Protocol is not expected for another several years, however.

Source: China Daily