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2012 November 14 - 20 [ENVIRONMENT]

Japan increasingly isolated before COP18

Akahata Sunday edition

The Japanese government is becoming isolated in international society before the 18th session of the Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP18) to be held from late November in Doha, Qatar.

The Kyoto Protocol adopted at the COP3 in 1997 has required developed nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide. The 5-year first commitment period set by the protocol is going to expire at the end of this year.

The last year’s COP17 in Durban, South Africa, decided to conclude a new agreement to combat global warming among all contracting parties by 2015. The conference also determined to start the second commitment period of the protocol from the beginning of 2013.

Nagoya University Professor Takamura Yukari pointed out that the focus of the COP18 is whether those states can set new reduction targets of greenhouse gas emissions for the second term.

The Japanese government, however, has announced that it will not take part in the Kyoto Protocol during the next period, arguing that the agreement fails to oblige emerging economies such as China to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Takamura said, “The world is paying attention to how Japan will tackle the global warming issue. Unless the Japanese representatives propose a definite reduction goal to achieve by 2020, they may be put in a difficult position at the negotiations.”

Certified weather forecaster Konishi Masako, who is also a member of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Japan, pointed out that a rise in sea temperatures caused by global warming contributed to the occurrence of Hurricane Sandy, which seriously damaged the Eastern States of America and other areas in the Caribbean in late October. She stressed, “It’s time to promote the cutting of greenhouse gas emissions in order to prevent climate changes from bringing about a global catastrophe.”

Japanese Communist Party Lower House member Kasai Akira said, “Japan’s immediate withdrawal from nuclear power generation and putting an end to the greenhouse effect are both challenges for us to meet,” referring to the JCP suggestion that the nation should work harder to create a “low-energy” society with the rapid adoption of the use of renewable energy.