Vic; Protest over Kyoto protocol

AAP General News (Australia)
04-18-2001
Vic; Protest over Kyoto protocol

MELBOURNE, April 18 AAP - The head of one of the world's largest environmental groups
today called on the Australian government to put pressure on the United States over global
warming.

Friends of the Earth International president Dr Ricardo Navarro and about 30 activists
gathered in Melbourne's city centre today to protest against the apparent collapse of
the Kyoto Protocol for Climate Change.

Dr Navarro told demonstrators it was vital Australia helped bring the United States
back to the negotiating table ahead of discussions in New York this week.

US President George W Bush has indicated the world's wealthiest nation and biggest
greenhouse gas producer will pull out of Kyoto negotiations unless greenhouse gas emission
quotas are radically altered for developing countries, to bring them into line with emission
cuts for wealthy nations.

"A very clear signal should be given to the Australian government, because the Australian
government shares the same position as the US government," Dr Navarro said.

"They are blockading the climate change negotiations," he said.

Dr Navarro told protesters the protocol, developed in Japan in 1997, desperately needed
to be enacted, and climate change had already resulted in the death of many people around
the world.

"In Central America, we had Hurricane Mitch, the size of which we have never had before,
there were 12,000 people killed," he said.

"In Venezuela, it was raining for a couple of days in 1999 - 25,000 people killed."

"In India, 10,000 people killed in a tornado," he said.

"This climate change is not just a scientific phenomenon, an economic situation, it
is killing people," he said.

It was reported today that Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill will discuss alternatives
to the Kyoto protocol with the Bush administration ahead of international talks about
greenhouse gases later this week.

Senator Hill told reporters in Washington that while the Kyoto protocol remained Australia's
preferred option, it would not work without the support of the US.

He said it was premature to say whether the US could be brought back to the negotiating
table until he had talked to the White House, the state department and the US environmental
watchdog today.

All options would be discussed, Senator Hill said in a transcript received in Canberra today.

"If the United States has formed the view that it's impossible to resolve those issues,
then we may well need to look for a new path forward," Senator Hill said.

New Zealand, Japan and the European Union are working on diplomatic solutions to the
Kyoto impasse after the US pulled out of the process last month.

To come into force, the protocol needs to be signed by 55 countries producing 55 per
cent of greenhouse gas emissions. The US accounts for 25 per cent of emissions.

The EU and 40 other countries, including Australia, are due to hold wider environmental
talks in New York later this week.

AAP db/jas/sb

KEYWORD: KYOTO EARTH (WITH PICS}

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