Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was created in 1988 at the request of the UN member governments. Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute to publishing special reports on topics relevant to the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. These collectively recognized a human role in climate change largely through the emission of four greenhouse gases. This led to an international treaty that acknowledges the possibility of harmful climate change. Implementation of the UNFCCC led eventually to the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997 and was bought into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol. The United States signed but did not ratify the Protocol and Canada withdrew from it in 2011. Other United Nations member states which did not ratify the protocol are Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European Community, made up of 15 states, commit themselves to limit or reduce their emissions of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons).
The United States Environmental Protection Agency provides a broad description of climate change. This may be a good starting point for discussion. The following AMS ( American Meteorological Society) provides a balanced description of global climate changes.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European Community, made up of 15 states, commit themselves to limit or reduce their emissions of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons).
The United States Environmental Protection Agency provides a broad description of climate change. This may be a good starting point for discussion. The following AMS ( American Meteorological Society) provides a balanced description of global climate changes.
