london

The fourth conference of the parties to the United Nations climate convention ended in Buenos Aires last week, with agreement on a plan of action and a deadline of the year 2000 to finalize mechanisms for implementing the Kyoto protocol.

These include mechanisms for trading of greenhouse-gas emissions between developed countries, help for developing countries with clean energy projects, funding on technology transfer, and help from the global environment facility for countries adapting to climate change.

The United States, which last week became the sixtieth country to sign the Kyoto protocol, made some progress in its attempts to make developing countries undertake voluntary commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

The Group of 77 countries prevented this issue from becoming a formal agenda item. But it failed to prevent the host country, Argentina, followed by Kazakhastan, from breaking ranks and agreeing voluntary commitments to reduce emissions.

The protocol will not become legally binding until 55 per cent of developed and developing countries sign the protocol and ratify it in their national parliaments. So far, this has been done in just two countries: Fiji and Antigua & Barbuda.