What are the pros and cons of the Kyoto Protocol?

Do you think it should

be followed?

Why, or why not?

Unfortunately, humanity brings a lot of harm to the nature nowadays.

Excessive hunting leads to extinction of rare animals, unrestrained cutting down of

trees brings to massive deforestation, disappearance of rare plants and lowers the

level of oxygen emission – these are only a couple examples of situations, in which

human actions result in negative effects on nature. Is there any measure, which can

help us reduce our negative anthropogenic impact?

Luckily, there is. Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty, which was the first

global agreement concerning environmental protection and became one of such

measures. It was signed by 181 countries and introduced a special mechanism for

trading greenhouse gas emission quotas to stop or minimize the result of global

warming. I’m going to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of this protocol in

this essay, as well as decide whether it should be followed or not.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, 41 industrialized countries and countries in

transition (which are called Annex I countries), including United Kingdom, USA,

France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine and others, commit themselves to a reduction

of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur

hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons)

produced by them. Also, all member countries give general commitments. The main

advantage of this protocol is that it binds these countries to restrict their harmful

gases emission and to normalize this emission to specific levels, which are defined

for each country. For example, European Union is obliged to reduce greenhouse

gases (GHG) emission level by 8% from the 1990 level. The purpose of this protocol

is to reduce the collective emission of GHG by 5.2% till year 2012.

 As Kyoto Protocol restricts general GHG emission levels, it results in less harm

to the nature. The second advantage of the protocol lies in the long-term reduction

of negative impact on nature. The lower the GHG level is, the easier we breathe.

The third advantage of this protocol is that it sets the principle of financial

commitments. What it basically means is that developed countries agree to pay

money to other countries for climate-related projects and studies, and share the

technology with developing countries. Hence, the shared knowledge can help

developing countries reduce their emission of harmful gases, too.

On the other hand, Kyoto Protocol has some disadvantages. First of all, it may

not be able to solve localized pollution problems. Even if national and international

emissions are reduced, the pollution can continue to harm local environment, in

case when this pollution is concentrated in a particular location and is originated

from a particular industry. There is no way that this protocol can help this issue.

The second flaw of the protocol is that it may counteract the progress of the

developing countries. Instead, it may favor European countries. The protocol set

1990 as the target date, when the biggest part of Europe has already been

industrialized. On the other hand, countries such as India and China have made a

big progress since 1990 in their technological and industrial development, and they

would be forced to shed much of that progress.

The third important disadvantage of the Kyoto Protocol is that it may address

the wrong problem, not the initial cause of global warming. It should regulate the

atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2), instead of GHG emission levels.

In conclusion, I must say that with all its flaws, the Kyoto Protocol was created

for a good cause. I think that countries should follow this protocol, but with some

changes to it. The protocol must be renewed before the end of its effective date in

2012, and I have some recommendations in mind. Firstly, it should address the
issue of localized pollution. Secondly, the protocol must set the goal for

concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Finally, it should relax or reconsider the

restrictions set for developing countries. These restrictions or emission reduction

levels must not contradict the potential future industrial progress of these

countries.

References

The Kyoto Protocol and Emissions Trading

http://www1.american.edu/TED/kyoto-emissions.htm

Kyoto Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol

Kyoto Protocol

http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php

Advantages & Disadvantages of the Kyoto Protocol

http://www.ehow.com/list_6046921_advantages-disadvantages-kyoto-protocol.html

Problems with the Protocol | Harvard Magazine Nov-Dec 2002

http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/11/problems-with-the-protoc.html