Ah, the whale wars,, I have watched that as well,
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary" <garyrumor2@yahoo.com>
To: <Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, December 03, 2010 8:29 PM
Subject: [Politics_CurrentEvents_Group] Re: Japan Abandons Kyoto Protocol
I have seen the Sea Shepard on TV Battle the Japanese over whaling.
--- In Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com, elaine mckay
<glyndon47@...> wrote:
>
> In Australia we are preparing for the Japanese whaling season in our
> southern waters. The whales they say are for "research" are really for
> "hamburgers". Protest boats and ships follow the whaling ships and try to
> disrupt the hunt, even by boarding their vessels.
>
> --- On Fri, 3/12/10, Gary <garyrumor2@...> wrote:
>
>
> From: Gary <garyrumor2@...>
> Subject: [Politics_CurrentEvents_Group] Japan Abandons Kyoto Protocol
> To: Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com
> Received: Friday, 3 December, 2010, 1:43 AM
>
>
> Â
>
>
>
> Japan Abandons Kyoto Protocol
> December 2nd, 2010 President Bush would have been proud. Japanese Prime
> Minister Kan has joined the head in the sand crowd in the USA in refusing
> to go along with the Kyoto Protocol a measure enacted in Japan. This may
> have more to do with tensions between China and Japan than anything else.
> I wonder what the diplomatic cables on this one look like?
>
> This is from Terraviva
>
> Japan Under Fire for Abandoning Kyoto Pact
> By Darryl D'Monte*
>
> The timing of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's statement was
> deliberate, NGOs say.
>
> CANCÃsN, Mexico, Dec 1, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) - Japanese NGOs feel that
> Prime Minister Naoto Kan's categorical statement in parliament on Monday
> that his government would not under any circumstances be party to a
> continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, which was signed in that historic city
> in 1997, went "beyond irony".
>
> Although the government's position on not proceeding with a second phase
> of the protocol, which begins in 2012, has been known for a couple of
> years, this is the first time that the prime minister has publicly stated
> it in public. The announcement on the opening day of the U.N. climate
> summit in Cancún was timed to drive home a point.
>
> Yuri Onodera, programme director for Climate Change and Energy of Friends
> of the Earth, Japan, told journalists Wednesday, "Japan's move to drop out
> of the Kyoto treaty shows a severe lack of recognition of its own
> historical and moral responsibility. With this position, Japan isolates
> itself from the rest of the world. Even worse, this step undermines the
> ongoing talks and is a serious threat to the progress needed here in
> Cancún."
>
> He told TerraViva the government's move may have arisen due to
> "frustration over the process" regarding major emerging economies in
> general, and China in particular, not agreeing to commit to reduce their
> emissions.
>
> The prime minister's move also came in the context of increasing tensions
> between the two major Asian countries.
>
> "Specifically regarding China, Japan has a territorial dispute. There is
> also economic competition, with China surpassing Japan as the world's
> second biggest economy. There is sentiment involved, I suppose," Onodera
> added.
>
> However, Onodera, who had been active with many fellow activists in
> helping forge the Kyoto Protocol 13 years ago, still expects the
> government to commit to combating global warming.
>
> "Japan recognises its place in the international community," he said. "It
> would like to present a good face and project itself as a consensus
> builder. It is a truly significant for Japan, for its public image and its
> foreign policy. It is a matter of national pride. It would not like to be
> seen as dealing with this issue single-handedly."
>
> "Many people will be watching if Japan is seen as not participating in the
> process," he continued.
>
> The government felt that substantive progress had been achieved after
> Copenhagen. If its role as consensus-builder went the wrong way, Japan
> would be seen as a blocker, which it would not like and the prime minister
> could change its policy, he said.
>
> He did not think that the U.S. would treat this as a precedent and cite
> Japan's pull-out to justify its own hard line against the Kyoto Protocol.
>
> "This administration is different," he felt, "it won't destroy the process
> openly. I truly hope that the U.S. doesn't. The continuance of the Kyoto
> Protocol is critical for underdeveloped countries to be engaged in the
> process."
>
> Asked by TerraViva whether the Japanese prime minister's statement had any
> resonance in U.S. climate policy, Dr. Jonathan Pershing, a top U.S.
> negotiator, said that since the U.S. was not a signatory to the Kyoto
> Protocol, it was not for it to comment on this development.
>
> However, he added that he was aware of "previous discussions" about
> Japan's opposition to a continuance of the treaty, on which Japan was
> "quite clear". There were now two tracks â?" one for continuing with Kyoto
> and the other without.
>
> "It is every country's right to take its own decision, just as it is
> important for a group of countries to move forward," he said.
>
> "Russia is also a concern in this respect," Ondera told TerraViva. "It has
> made its support for the second phase of the protocol conditional on other
> major emerging economies, but at the same time, it is also flexible. Japan
> is moving in the opposite direction and will be isolated."
>
> NGOs in Japan were engaging with government policies of all ministries and
> mobilising the public to tackle global warming. "Recent economic issues,
> including nearly five percent unemployment, had diverted the attention of
> the government and opened up policies to hardline elements," he concluded.
>
> The U.N. climate talks in Cancún are seen as a critical test in which the
> credibility of the multilateral process of the climate talks and trust of
> developing countries can be reestablished, said Friends of the Earth.
> Developing countries suffer from the impacts of climate change caused by
> industrial countries like Japan. In spite of this, Japan had made its
> intentions more than clear during the first two days in Cancún.
>
> Friends of the Earth International has urgently demanded that Japan
> reconsider its position and stop stalling climate talks, which have just
> begun. All rich countries, including Japan, should agree on cutting their
> emissions by at least 40 percent by 2020, without resorting to carbon
> offsetting, and agree to doing this under a second commitment period of
> the Kyoto Protocol, the group said.
>
> http://ipsnews.net/newsTVE.asp?idnews=53742
>
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