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012<br />
UNIT 1: WHERE DO WE STAND? THE STATE OF THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT<br />
1998-1999 saw<br />
record<br />
temperatures,<br />
increased natural<br />
disasters, reports<br />
of shrinking ice<br />
packs and<br />
disappearing or<br />
‘moving’ species.<br />
• An international, market-based emissions trading mechanism that will<br />
allow Article One countries to buy and sell excess emission credits.<br />
Rules and guidelines for trading are to be established in 2000;<br />
• Joint implementation projects among Article One countries, allowing a<br />
country to take emissions credits for projects that reduce emissions or<br />
enhance emissions-absorbing sinks such as forests from other Article<br />
One countries;<br />
• A Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under which Article One<br />
countries can take credits for projects that reduce emissions in non-<br />
Article One countries. Any group of Article One countries may also set<br />
up a bubble or umbrella to meet their total commitments by allocating<br />
a share to each member. In an umbrella agreement, the total reduction<br />
of all member nations would be met collectively through the trading<br />
of emissions rights.<br />
The Kyoto Protocol is an important signal to businesses that greenhouse gas-free<br />
products and services must be developed and used more. The use of ‘no regrets’<br />
options – strategies that are economically and socially beneficial whether or not<br />
climate change occurs – is being widely implemented. ‘No regrets’ emissions<br />
strategies include:<br />
• Supply-side measures such as the diversification of energy sources,<br />
the reform of transport sectors and the use of renewable energy;<br />
• Demand-side measures such as promoting energy conservation in<br />
homes, offices and industries, limiting methane emissions from waste<br />
management and energy systems, protecting forests and increasing<br />
the energy efficiency of appliances.<br />
Since 1998, governments have reconvened every year to work on the setting up<br />
of a framework for trading emissions credits, for an international enforcement<br />
mechanism and for financing clean air projects in developing countries.<br />
1998-1999 saw record temperatures, increased natural disasters, reports of<br />
shrinking ice packs and disappearing or ‘moving’ species. These all underline the<br />
necessity for action.<br />
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1<br />
1.2 The Depletion of the Ozone Layer<br />
Nearly 90% of all ozone, a naturally occurring gas, is found in the stratosphere,<br />
12-15km above the earth’s surface: this is called the ozone layer. The ozone layer<br />
is vital because it absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation (UVR) 3 from the sun and<br />
stops it reaching the earth’s surface.<br />
3<br />
Ultraviolet radiation is made<br />
up of UVA, UVB and UVC<br />
Some man-made chemicals containing chlorine and bromine move across the<br />
troposphere and into the stratosphere. These chemicals are stable in the<br />
troposphere, but in the stratosphere they are broken down into extremely reactive<br />
forms by high levels of UVR. They then become part of a series of complex<br />
reactions that break down the ozone molecule (O3) into an oxygen (O2) molecule.<br />
This leads to the thinning of, or the ‘hole’ in, the ozone layer.