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Climate Talkers In Eye Of Storm United Nations climate change talkers in The Hague are in a very uncomfortable spotlight which parallels the experiences of millions affected by industrialisms latest global catastrophe, climate change. Environmental groups in the city are muttering privately that a deadlock would be better than accepting proposals currently on the table. The latest offer from the United States - which was soundly rejected by the European Union - would result, say environmentalists, in a Kyoto Protocol which would not only allow an increase in 'greenhouse gas' emissions, but could also provide a charter for the destruction of biodiversity and old-growth forests on a massive scale. The biggest bone of contention is the issue of 'carbon sinks' - forests and other vegetation which absorbs carbon, and can therefore be used by polluting countries to avoid making cuts in direct emissions from cars and industry. Each tonne of carbon counted as being absorbed up by a forest is a new tonne of carbon that can be burned from oil or coal, says Climate Action Network an alliance of environmental groups. The United States has proposed that its forests and agricultural land should be counted as soaking up carbon. But speaking at a fiery press conference (not matched by the sight of the US Chief negotiators cream-pie covered face talking into a microphone) Swedish Environment Minister Kjell Larsson said that EU number-crunchers working overnight had calculated that the proposal would in practice allow the US to increase its emissions by 8-9 per cent. "We are not going to be led down a road which would destroy what has been built up over three years," said French Environment Minister Dominque Voynet, speaking for the EU delegation. The US proposal was "unravelling the [Kyoto] Treaty," she added. The EU also revealed that if implemented across the industrialised world, which is supposed to make a 5.2 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions below 1990 levels by 2008-12, the US proposals would lead to exactly the opposite - a legal increase in emissions by over 5 per cent. Its karmic that Australia's most populous state, NSW, is currently under water due to rains many attribute to global warming. Karmic because Australia was the only country at Kyoto that wanted the OK to INCREASE its CO2 emissions. Another major concern for environmental groups is that if agreed the issue of carbon sinks could turn into a programme for deforestation - as old growth forests are logged for cash and then replanted as quick-growing plantations of pine or eucalyptus. A recent report by Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) revealed that the Tokyo Electric Power Company planned to destroy vast areas of native forest in the Australian state of Tasmania. When replaced with plantations, the new trees would provide 130,000 tonnes of carbon credits - and destroy the habitat of many endangered species. A similar project in Patagonia, Argentina, would destroy nearly 4,500 hectares of native forest and replace it with pine plantations. Local ecologists have pointed out that the area borders the Nahuel Huapi National Park and is also close to protected areas in the province of Rio Negro - both rich in species biodiversity. Originally changes to the Kyoto treaty sought to protect the environmental integrity of forest 'sinks' - but earlier this week these parts of the text were mysteriously deleted. Despite assurances from delegations that the removal was an administrative oversight, there is still no guarantee that old-growth forests will be protected. The result, in the words of WWF's Bill Hare, is that the forest-protection articles "wouldn't be worth the paper they are written on". Environmental groups also point out that the science underlying forestry 'carbon sinks' is dubious at best. If implemented it will mean trees with lifetimes of a few decades are expected to lock up carbon released into the atmosphere after being underground for several million years. And there is no guarantee that in the future tree plantations will not be logged - or even burn down as temperatures rise due to global warming. Opposition to the inclusion of tree plantations in the Kyoto Protocol is also mounting in the South. Yesterday a coalition of 50 Latin American groups expressed their joint opposition, saying that the proposals would shift even more of the burden of climate change onto the developing world by taking up vast areas of land for plantations - resulting in "biodiversity loss, depletion of water sources, soil impoverishment and dispossession of local peoples". Rumours are now circulating that despite their earlier strong statements, EU negotiators may cave in to the US demands - which are backed by Canada, Australia and Japan. The only glimmer of hope is that Russia, the entire developing world and China, and Eastern Europe seem to be lining up in support of the EU. . .
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