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Annan Regrets US' Decision to Abandon Treaty to Fight Global Warming
The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Monday that he regretted the recent US decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing global warming.
He told a press conference here that the US decision "gives us one more reason to fight in a more determined manner to bring the environmental issue to the focus".
The Kyoto protocol is a UN climate pact accord to reduce major industrialized nations' emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Scientists widely believed that green house gas emissions, which result mostly from burning coal and oil, trap heat in the earth's atmosphere and contribute to global warming which can cause disastrous weather changes.
The United States said last Thursday that it had effectively abandoned the 1997 Kyoto treaty to fight global warming, stressing that the treaty is not in the US' best economic interests.
"The earth is not ours, it is a treasure we hold in trust for future generations, for our children and their children, and I hope our generation will be worthy of that trust, so we can hand over a healthy climate and a healthy planet to our children," Annan said.
He called on the international community to taken more urgent steps to fight environmental degradation, especially to halt global warming.
Annan jetted in the Kenyan capital on Sunday for a three-day visit. He is scheduled to meet with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi and chair this year's first regular session of the UN Administrative Committee on Coordination, which is to be attended by chief executives of more than 80 UN specialized agencies.
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