Times of India , Friday, April 04, 2008

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

BANGKOK: Air travel is booming as the world's population grows and fares fall, but its impact on Earth's sensitive climate must be taken into account in any new global warming pact, green groups say. More than 900 delegates flew into Bangkok this week for a UN-led meeting on global warming, spewing about 4,181 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, an official from the United Nations climate body estimated. Few would argue against holding such talks, which are vital to crafting a new pact on battling climate change, but activists are urging the world to include air and sea travel in any new accord. "Aviation and maritime shipping are very big sources of emissions and they're growing fast," said David Doniger, climate policy chief at the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council. "I think that one thing that's not acceptable is to leave those sectors uncontrolled on the theory that they don't belong to anybody," he added. Industry and green groups estimate that air travel accounts for between 2 and 4% of the world's emissions of greenhouses gases. Emissions from the sector look set to rise, however, with the number of global travellers predicted to double by 2020. International aviation and shipping were excluded from greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets laid out in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the current global treaty addressing climate change. Delegates from more than 160 countries are now in Bangkok trying to thrash out a work plan for a new agreement on how to curb emissions when the Kyoto Protocol's deadlines run out in 2012. Bill Hare, climate policy director with Greenpeace, argues that aviation emissions should be included in binding greenhouse-gas cuts for rich nations expected to be laid out in the new pact, with the country selling the fuel taking responsibility for the emissions.

SOURCE : Times of India, Friday, 04 April 2008