Key decision makers on the global climate change issue have been hesitant to make a conclusive call at the COP17 talks, which are currently being held in Durban. There are major concerns that the world’s only legally binding climate agreement could sink entirely.

Referring to the melting of polar ice caps and rising sea levels, the EU’s frustrated Artur Runge-Metzger asked delegates, “How far must the water rise in these conference centres before we take a decision?”.

The issue in contention has its roots in the Kyoto Protocol, which binds certain wealthy industrial nations to slow climate change by cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent. Canada, Russia and Japan are threatening to pull out of the Kyoto agreement, while other significant nations, including the US and China, are not part of it.

There is a possibility that that the EU will be the only remaining participant in the Kyoto Protocol by the end of the Durban talks, which would mean that the vast majority (as much as 90 per cent) of global greenhouse gas emissions would be uncontrolled.

The solution would appear to be for major industrial nations to agree to a new treaty framework – and this is where the talks are stuck right now.

[Source: IOL]