Signatories to the Kyoto Protocol should begin negotiations as soon as possible on setting targets and timetable for the developed countries to further cut their greenhouse gas emission before the first phase of the 1997 landmark treaty ends in 2012, a Chinese official said on Friday in Montreal.

"If the signatories fail to do so before 2012, the Protocol will become a piece of waste paper after the deadline," Wei Su, Deputy head of the Chinese delegation, told Xinhua here at the Palais des Congres where the World Climate Change Conference is being held.

Around 10,000 delegates from 189 countries are meeting in Montreal for the Eleventh Conference of the Parties (COP-11) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Simultaneously, 157 signatories to the Kyoto Protocol are holding their first Meeting of the Parties since that treaty came into force in February.

The protocol attempts to lower the temperature by setting limits on the emissions of greenhouse gases for 37 signatory countries, known as Annex 1 countries.

The goal is to reduce emissions by 5.2 percent below the levels emitted in 1990. Annex 1 countries include most developed countries and many former Soviet states.

The main exceptions are Australia and the United States, which have refused to ratify the treaty. Developing countries like China, India, Brazil and Indonesia do not have to make any reductions in their emissions of greenhouse gases under the treaty.

The protocol's Subparagraph 9 of Article 3 clearly reads that the second phase emission reduction target for the developed countries should be set in seven years before the 2012, noted Su, who is deputy director-general of Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of Treaties and Law.

"We believe the subparagraph empowers the signatories to kick off the process as soon as possible," he said. "And the developed countries should continue to take the lead in combating climate change."

It is unfair that some developed countries request some developing countries including India, Brazil and China be in the same position as they are to cut the emission, Su said.

That notion is also not on the basis of equity and not in accordance with the spirit of "the common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities" as set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The largest share of historical and current global emissions of greenhouse gases has originated in developed countries as the per capita emissions in developing countries including China, India and Brazil are still relatively low.

The per capita greenhouse gas emission in China is just 2.6 tons while that of the United States, the largest emitter who refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol, stands at as high as 19 tons.

"The share of global emissions originating in developing countries grows just to meet their social and development needs," Su said.

China is still rather backward in social and economic development, compared with developed countries, and that eradicating poverty, developing economy and improving the people's living standards are the first and overriding priorities of China in the future, Su added.

By the end of 1999, there were still 34 million people under the poverty line in China's rural areas, around 3 percent of the total rural population.

China's poverty line is equivalent to 0.20 US dollars a day and according to international standards, 18.5 percent of China's total population live under poverty line of 1 dollar a day in 1998.

"However, China is in no way shunning her due responsibility in fighting against the climate change," Su said, adding China recently unveiled a five-year economic plan that stresses sustainable growth.

Beijing has also raised its target for reliance on renewable energy, saying it could account for 15 percent of national consumption by 2020.

The Montreal conference is aimed at finding ways to prevent dangerous anthropomorphic interference with the world's climate. Such climatic meddling results from the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil, which boost the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Since the year 1750 the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per million (ppm) to 379 ppm today. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun from and prevent it from radiating back out into space. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the earth's average temperature could increase over the next century by between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius.

According to the UNFCCC's latest Key Greenhouse Gas Data, developed countries have seen their emissions rise from 12.7 billion metric tons in 1990 to 13.9 billion metric tons in 2003, an increase of 9.2 percent. For example, Canada is putting out 24.2 percent more GHG; Japan 12.8 percent; and Spain 41.7 percent.

Source: Xinhua