What Is Kyoto Protocol?

The Kyoto Protocol was an amendment  to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change treaty that was signed on December 11, 1997 in Kyoto, Japan.

The protocol, which came into force on February 16, 2005, committed signatory countries to cut carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gas emissions to 50 per cent of 1990 levels. Alternatively, countries that maintained or increased green house gas emissions were obliged to enter into emissions trading, i.e. to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.

Just last month, (Feb 16, 2007) Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa agreed in principle on the outline of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

By 2009, they hope last month's "Washington Declaration" will lead to a global cap and trading system on green house gas emissions that would apply to both industrialised and developing nations.