Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES
Kyoto, 1-10 December 1997
Notes:
The Kyoto Protocol is the legal mechanism of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, an international treaty which came into effect in 1994.
This document is only a milestone in a larger process, a multi-year set of discussions and negotiations among most of the world’s nations to establish effective and equitable ways to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in as short a time period as possible.
I will not go through the 28 articles and two annexes that comprise the Protocol - it is written in dense legalese and is very difficult to understand without some previous knowledge of the Convention.
Instead, I will describe briefly the antecedent events and situations leading up to Kyoto and then provide an overview of the results of the meeting, which are encapsulated in the Protocol document. Finally, I will discuss what yet needs to be resolved and express my opinions on the primary flaws in the whole process.