U.S. environmentalists say climate talks must restart

November 29, 2000
Web posted at: 11:40 AM EST (1640 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Environmentalists Tuesday urged climate change treaty negotiators to quickly resume talks suspended last week in The Hague, claiming a final deal to cut the world's greenhouse gas emissions was close.

Despite heated wrangling among the major powers over the failed conference, Dan Lashof, senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said negotiators "can and should get back together soon to cement the deal they almost had."

Any of the major players in The Hague talks can call for a resumption of the negotiations, according to the environmentalists, who noted that if given a little more time, a final treaty could be accomplished.

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"We all believe they need to reconvene in weeks, not months," said Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate change campaign for the World Wildlife Fund.

The next formal date for climate change talks is not until May, she noted, and not meeting until then would be a waste of the "progress made in The Hague."

Two weeks of negotiations ended late last week when officials from the United States and European Union could not settle key sticking points in around-the-clock talks.

The United States wanted some of the carbon dioxide absorbed by its forests set against its emission-reduction target, but the European Union rejected such a deal brokered by British deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

The Hague talks were supposed to set the stage for final implementation and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 framework treaty that called for major industrial nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions -- like carbon dioxide -- an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

The failure came as the presidential election in the United States remained uncertain. The outgoing Clinton administration negotiating team would certainly be replaced if a Republican takeover of power in late January occurs under Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

The representatives from five major environmental groups, including Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists, said The Hague talks were momentous, even if they failed to produce a workable treaty for cutting emissions blamed for global warming and violent weather disruptions.

Despite the prospects of a Bush presidency -- which is viewed with more skepticism by green groups than a potential Gore administration -- the environmentalists said the climate for securing a deal was more favorable than ever before.

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, noted that the so-called Flat Earth opponents of the Kyoto process were irrelevant at The Hague, since many former skeptics of the science behind the global warming issue have admitted that human-induced warming is a serious problem.

Clapp also said the U.S. Senate -- which must ratify any treaty -- has changed with the defeat of three outspoken Kyoto opponents in the elections: Republicans John Ashcroft of Missouri, Rod Grams of Minnesota and Spencer Abraham of Michigan.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
  • The Convention and the Kyoto Protocol
Natural Resources Defense Council
WWF International
European Union
Greenpeace International
Union of Concerned Scientists
National Environmental Trust

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