Strategic Panorama 2009 - 2010 - IEEE

Yolanda Castro Díez
but the Chinese government’s attitude served as a pretext to avoid going
any further than this minimum agreement. Nor does the agreement state
that by 2050 emissions should be half the 1990 level. The clearest aspect
is the financing commitment for developing countries, which allowed the
African governments to sign up to the agreement. The result satisfies
nobody. As it was impossible to reach an agreement on how to progress
from voluntary targets to a legally binding agreement in 2010, this part was
left blank. It is not specified whether the Kyoto agreement will be extended
or whether there will be a new treaty, or when. Simply no mention is
made.
As stated earlier, even if all greenhouse gas emissions were to cease,
warming would increase, but this cannot be used as an excuse for not
adopting as many measures as possible—such as those stated here—
to reduce greenhouse gases, as the lower their concentration in the
atmosphere the less the resulting warming and impacts. It is not merely a
conservationist consideration but an issue which, as has been analysed
throughout this chapter, significantly affects our living and security conditions.
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