Kyoto and Beyond: Development of Sustainable Policy

The degree to which nations have come together to consider a potential global problem and possible solutions is remarkable. Most nations have participated in the United Nations sponsored study of the climate change problem. A report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change constitutes a major summary of thinking on climate change science. Still, climate science is in a state of early development. Many scientists are so far unconvinced that global warming from human produced greenhouse gases is significant or harmful. Similarly the scientific and engineering basis to manage now increasing greenhouse gases is immature. Reduction of atmospheric greenhouse gases, should we become committed that we can and must consider undertaking that task, will require much broader consideration of the role of humans in earth's carbon cycle. Many of the policies and practices which are being put into place in the name of the Kyoto Protocol seem short sighted in that context. This paper undertakes a review of some Kyoto derived policy initiatives which seem inappropriate, or possibly even counter to science based policies which might be considered in the context of long term greenhouse gas management for the coming decades and centuries. Indeed some may derive from issues and goals which have very little to do with the climate change issue. The purpose of this paper is to encourage consideration of the development of policy which unequivocally focuses on greenhouse gas management in the short and long term and thus integrates with the goals of sustainable development.