Under threat - polar bear
In Kyoto in 1997 at the third Conference of the Parties (COP 3), the Kyoto Protocol was adopted. Thirty-eight industrialised countries agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by varying amounts with an overall reduction of 5.2% below 1990 levels by the year 2010. It also provided a series of 'flexible mechanisms' to help them achieve this.
As negotiations have proceeded it has become clear that these 'mechanisms' have become potential loopholes that, if adopted, would allow industrialised countries to do very little or nothing in the way of real emissions reduction and still appear to meet their targets.
