Geoscience Reference
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which causes a serious concern, especially from the viewpoint of further prospects
of development of global biospheric processes.
The 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference was the 18th yearly
session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the
Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been
developed under the UNFCCC
s charter). The conference took place from Monday
26 November to Saturday 8 December 2012, at the Qatar National Convention
Centre in Doha.
At the 2012 Doha climate change talks, Parties to the Kyoto Protocol agreed to a
second commitment period of emissions reductions from 1 January 2013 to 31
December 2020, which takes the form of an amendment to the Protocol. The 37
countries with binding targets in the second commitment period are Australia, all
members of the European Union, Belarus, Croatia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Norway,
Switzerland, and Ukraine. However, a last minute objection at the conference by
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan indicates that they will likely withdraw
from the Protocol or not ratify the Protocol amendment. Collectively, these coun-
tries will reduce their emissions 18 % below their 1990 level between 2013 and
2020. The targets may be strengthened by 2014. The emissions targets speci
'
ed in
'
second commitment period will apply to about 15 % of the world
s greenhouse gas
emissions. Several Annex I Parties who participated in Kyoto
rst-round have not
taken on new targets in the second commitment period, and are Japan, New Zea-
land, and Russia. Other Annex I Parties without second-round targets are the United
States (which never became a member to Protocol) and Canada (which withdrew
from the Kyoto Protocol effective 2012).
As for the situation with developing countries, in this connection, the main fact
consists in inability of developed countries to perceive the key signi
'
s
cance of the
principle of equality (this refers, in particular, to the problem of per-capita emis-
sions). It is easy to predict that the discussed arbitrariness in resolving the problem
will remain in the future, though it is apparent that the principles of equality,
responsibility, and ef
ciency formulated in the Climate Convention should serve
the basis. The KP recommendations are in apparent contradiction with these
principles.
The key aspect of the FCCC consists, in the series of recommendations for
reduction, of GHGs emissions to the atmosphere, in order to prevent undesirable
anthropogenic climate changes. As Hulme and Parry (1998) noted, an adoption of
the Protocol on GHGs emissions reduction at the Third FCCC Conference held in
Kyoto in December 1997 can serve a manifestation of the anxiety of the world
community about potential danger for sustainable development of anthropogenic
impacts on climate. The logic of GHGs emissions reduction proceeds from two
assumptions:
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