THE HAGUE With three days to go before Friday's deadline for a UN deal on reducing "greenhouse gases" believed to cause global warming, the United States has come up with proposals to break a deadlock with the European Union. But high-level political delegations still face a daunting task in reaching a consensus among the 185 participating nations. Current forecasts estimate that the earth's temperature will rise by as much as six degrees centigrade (11 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, lifting ocean levels by nearly a meter (three feet).
Such a dramatic temperature rise would also lead to a higher number of devastating storms, such as the type that have hit Europe, Asia and Africa in recent months, displacing thousands and causing billions of dollars in damage. Industrialized nations agreed to cut their emissions under a plan agreed in Kyoto in 1997, but pollution has continued to rise and none of those countries have yet legally bound themselves to the targets. The Hague talks, which aim to set clear rules on how countries can meet their targets, have stalled largely because of massive differences between the Unites States and the European Union.
Bid to Restart Horse-Trading In an attempt to restart horse-trading, the U.S. negotiators unveiled the fine print of their controversial plan to count their forests and farmland as "sinks" which suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting that gas uptake from their emissions reduction target.
Frank Loy, U.S. under secretary of state for global affairs and head of the U.S. negotiating team, said that under the plan the United States would reduce the amount of carbon absorbed by those areas it would be able to claim, to address EU fears that the whole amount would be too easy an option. "The new plan takes in a smaller part (of carbon) than is actually being sequestered in our forests," Loy said. "It's one of the most important issues of this protocol and I hope that it's closer to resolution than before.
" The plan would mean green areas in the United States would take it about 20 percent of the way toward meeting its Kyoto targets, the U.S. delegation said. But the EU negotiators reacted coolly to the plan, which would allow the United States to avoid costly reductions in its fossil fuel usage. An EU source said the Europeans were still studying the details but its first reaction was negative. The two blocs, which clashed last week over the same issue, were due to engage in technical talks over the proposal before moving onto more major political discussions some time later on Tuesday, the sources said.
U.S. and France Clash On Monday, the United States and France clashed as the French President Jacques Chirac accusing the world's biggest polluter of ducking its responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions. "Each American emits three times more greenhouse gases than a Frenchman," Chirac told the conference in The Hague. "It is in the Americans, in the first place, that we place our hopes of effectively limiting greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale," he said. "No country can elude its share of the collective effort.
" Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska reacted sharply to the jab, saying, "I don't believe President Chirac's statement today was particularly helpful for the success of this conference." "To single out the United States, as he did rather directly, does not facilitate a cooperative spirit." The EU and the United States remain at loggerheads over the U.S. desire for unlimited "flexible mechanisms" it says were implicit in the Kyoto Pact.
The EU wants those nations required to make emissions cuts to make at least half of them at home, limiting use of emissions trading or other flexible mechanisms.
(Reuter)