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However, the new report, issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and indicating a major shift of policy, concludes that the changes are inevitable, and does not recommend altering the administration's current policy on greenhouse gases. Instead, the report says that, if America's economic growth is to be protected, the country will just have to adapt to a climate that is between five and nine degrees Fahrenheit warmer. The report, filed to the United Nations under the terms of a 1992 treaty, breaks new ground for an administration that previously suggested that "more research" was needed to prove a link between climate change and soaring fossil fuel use — a stance similar to that of U.S. energy companies and car manufacturers. In a rare defeat for industry lobbyists, the administration appears to have accepted the scientific case for global warming, adopting whole sections of a recent study on climate change by the National Academy of Sciences, which stated that warming was a serious problem. The report, U.S. Climate Action Report 2002, says for the first time that human actions are mostly to blame for global warming. It gives warning that rising temperatures are "very likely" to disrupt America's snow-fed water supplies, flood coastal areas, increase air pollution, exacerbate insect-borne diseases and cause forests in the south-eastern U.S. to fragment. "A few ecosystems, such as alpine meadows in the Rocky Mountains and some barrier islands, are likely to disappear entirely in some areas," the report says. However, crops and forests will grow more strongly. The report will increase international pressure on the President, George W Bush from allies in Europe and Canada, which were furious when he withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol, declaring the global warming pact ''dead''.
In February, Mr. Bush unveiled plans to focus on reducing only the "intensity" of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. This approach involves reducing the ratio of emissions relative to the size of the U.S. economy — an approach that still allows overall gas emissions to grow sharply. Environmental groups expressed anger that the new report continued to place economic prosperity ahead of the environment. —
Japan ratifies Kyoto Protocol
Amit Baruah reports from Singapore:
Japan today ratified the Kyoto Protocol, under which industrialised nations are expected to cut down greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by a minimum average of 5.2 per cent between 2008 and 2012.
Japan, however, has pledged to cut its emissions by six per cent. In a statement following the ratification announcement, the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said: "The Kyoto Protocol marks a significant step to strengthen an international framework to deal with climate changes. Japan hopes other states will ratify it quickly so that the pact takes effect soon.
"Japan will do its utmost so that a rule can be created that all nations, including the United States and developing ones can join," Mr. Koizumi said in reference to the U.S. withdrawal from the Protocol. About Tokyo's decision to ratify the Protocol, the Prime Minister said, "It will not be easy to meet the targets in the treaty. It will require a joint effort by government, corporations and individuals."
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