| Parliamentary Assembly Assembl�e parlementaire |
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Global warming: beyond Kyoto
Doc. 10134
13 April 2004
Motion for a resolution
presented by Mr Meale and others
This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the members who have signed it
The climate system is complex, and research aimed at achieving a better understanding of the extent, timing and effects of climate change is continuing.
Fresh scientific evidence has already confirmed that most of the climate warming observed over the past 50 years has been caused by human activity. It is also known that human activity will continue to change the composition of the atmosphere throughout the 21st century.
Climate change has known and potentially disastrous negative effects on all human, animal and plant life on earth. Global warming poses a threat to all the things on which human life depends – food safety, health, economic activity, water resources and agriculture.
The disruptive effects on agriculture may lead to falling crop yields in many regions, famine and the spread of tropical diseases. To take one example, the proportion of the world population at risk from malaria may increase from around 45% today to approximately 60% in the latter half of this century.
The rise in the sea level and in average rainfall may also result in serious flooding and large-scale migration from the worst affected areas. The poorest people and countries will be the most vulnerable, while the most developed countries are still fostering rapid economic growth, and so encouraging increased energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and climate warming.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change may be considered a success, insofar as it has made both public and policy-makers more aware of the global ecological and economic dangers inherent in climate change. The Kyoto protocol also marks a step forward in the effort to curb global warming, since it includes binding, quantified objectives for limiting and reducing greenhouse gases.
Abandoning efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Europe today, on the pretext that Russia has not ratified the Protocol, and that the Protocol itself has not come into force, would be tantamount to denying that global warming is a problem, whereas every new day brings dramatic proof of the changes. The prospect of rapid economic development in countries like China adds to the scale of the problem.
Economic growth and action to combat global warming are compatible. To persist in denying the facts and refusing to ratify and implement the Kyoto Protocol is a naive and short-sighted policy, which undermines all prospects of sustainable economic growth and will eventually bring ruin on the planet.
The Council of Europe supports the European Union’s efforts, which have produced all the legal machinery needed to achieve global reduction objectives for greenhouse gas emissions.
The Council of Europe also has a crucial role to play in ensuring that Europe, with its economic and political maturity, is a continent aware of the ecological dangers weighing on the planet and contributes to its survival.
Signed
[1]:
Meale, United Kingdom, SOC
Baura, Lithuania, SOC
Bruce, United Kingdom, LDR
Coifan, Romania, LDR
Deittert, Germany, EPP/CD
Duivesteijn, Netherlands, SOC
Etherington, United Kingdom, SOC
Gentil, Switzerland, SOC
Grissemann, Austria, SOC
Gubert, Italy, EPP/CD
Mart�nez Casa�, Spain, EPP/CD
Nazare Pereira, Portugal, EPP/CD
O’Hara, United Kingdom, SOC
Schicker, Austria, SOC
Schmied, Switzerland, LDR
Sfyriou, Greece, SOC
Stoyanova, Bulgaria, EPP/CD
Toshev, Bulgaria, EPP/CD
Wray, United Kingdom, SOC
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SOC |
Socialist Group |