Nations adopt a diluted agreement on implementing the Kyoto
Protocol that gives away too many concessions to polluting
countries "I HEAR no objections, it is so decided," Jan Pronk,
president of the meeting, said in obvious relief as he brought
down the gavel at the resumed session of the sixth conference of
parties to the climate change convention. The meeting, held in
Bonn from July 16-27, 2001, outlined details on how to implement
the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions in industrialised countries. The protocol calls for a
5.2 per cent reduction of GHG emissions from 1990 levels by
2008-2012. This already weak target was further weakened by some
of the decisions taken at Bonn. Despite this, the Bonn agreement
was praised by some as a triumph of multilateralism over
unilateralism. The Bonn meeting can be described as an exercise
in maintaining quorum for the Kyoto Protocol to come into
effect. After the US rejected it in March 2001, the agreement
seemed doomed. To come into forc