BONN: Canada's ratification Tuesday of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change brings the agreement's total membership to 100.
To enter into force the Protocol now requires only the ratification of the Russian Federation. The Russian Parliament is expected to act within the next several months.
"Achieving the symbolic threshold of 100 ratifications demonstrates that the Kyoto Protocol has widespread international support," said Joke Waller-Hunter, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, under which the Protocol was adopted.
"Most industrialized countries are now on board and have cemented their commitment to reversing the historical rise in greenhouse gas emissions that started with the Industrial Revolution. But these countries have only 10 more years to meet their Kyoto emissions targets - and the evidence today is that most of them still have a great deal of work to do to reduce their greenhouse gases," she said.
Ms. Waller-Hunter also pointed to the large number of developing countries that had ratified the Protocol. She said this was "a sign of their commitment to the Protocol as an instrument of global cooperation to address a global problem".
To enter into force the Protocol now requires only the ratification of the Russian Federation. The Russian Parliament is expected to act within the next several months.
"Achieving the symbolic threshold of 100 ratifications demonstrates that the Kyoto Protocol has widespread international support," said Joke Waller-Hunter, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, under which the Protocol was adopted.
"Most industrialized countries are now on board and have cemented their commitment to reversing the historical rise in greenhouse gas emissions that started with the Industrial Revolution. But these countries have only 10 more years to meet their Kyoto emissions targets - and the evidence today is that most of them still have a great deal of work to do to reduce their greenhouse gases," she said.
Ms. Waller-Hunter also pointed to the large number of developing countries that had ratified the Protocol. She said this was "a sign of their commitment to the Protocol as an instrument of global cooperation to address a global problem".