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Durban (South Africa): Kyoto protocol extended by 5 years
The agreement did not commit nations to ensuring their greenhouse gas emissions start to decrease before 2020, which scientists say is crucial to preventing global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit above current levels by the end of this century.
Celine Charveriat of the anti-poverty group Oxfam called the Durban pact ”a major disappointment.” Jennifer Morgan of the World Resources Institute was more measured, saying it was significant that Durban set the world on course to a legally binding agreement that would cover both developed and developing countries.
Until now, developed countries who have been contributing to global warming since the Industrial Revolution have been seen as bearing the greatest responsibility for reducing the emissions.
They argue that countries like China, Brazil and India should do more, while those emerging economic powers say abandoning dirty energy too quickly would hurt growth.
Molewa acknowledged on Monday that South Africa is among the countries wary of ”strangling our own industry, strangling our own program of poverty eradication.”
”We need time and space to develop,” she said.
South Africa stands out on the continent, emitting more global warming gases than any other African country. It is the 13th largest emitter in the world, according to US government analysis.
