Climate change: due to pollution

Climate change, a common concern
AS we commemorate another World Environment Day, there is little doubt that climate change is a reality that calls for urgent, collective action. Evolving and accepting a global framework to arrest the emission of greenhouse gases is the challenge that leaders face. The issue is as contentious as ever. America's traditional hostility to the Kyoto protocol is well known. President George Bush has now proposed, however, that the 15 most polluting countries, including the US, China and India, agree to a target to reduce greenhouse gases by 2008. Bush sees the talks as eventually leading to a framework that may replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
European countries, which have always seen themselves as being on the front line of the fight against global warming, are none too impressed with what they see as vague proposals. Since the talks will be US-led, some, like the German environment minister, have gone so far as to suggest that the US is merely hijacking the process without any serious intentions to

put in place a tough regime. The US never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which also exempts developing countries. There will now be increasing pressure on countries like India, China and Brazil to join a new protocol.
Developing countries have always argued that their efforts cannot be proscribed by the environmental concerns of developed countries, who have done the bulk of their polluting in the early stages and would like now to pull back. Indian officials have already indicated their wariness of any cap on emissions, which could affect development plans and poverty alleviation. But an emissions target that takes into account all concerns and ensures a fair outcome for all par¬ties needs to be attempted in light earnest. India has its own share of urgent environmental concerns that need to be addressed if our air, soil and waterways are to be kept healthy. And while the state should do its part, a World Environment Day is nothing if not an opportunity for all of us to reflect on our own practices and excesses.