DCEN.2018.009

Global Warming and Kyoto Protocol

Mahmoud Izzat Mahmoud

mahmoud.izzat@cihanuniversity.edu.iq

Abstract- Global warming is the slow increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere because an increased amount of the energy (heat) striking the earth from the sun is being trapped in the atmosphere and not radiated out into space.

The earth’s atmosphere has always acted like a greenhouse to capture the sun’s heat, ensuring that the earth has enjoyed temperatures that permitted the emergence of life forms as we know them, including humans.

Without our atmospheric greenhouse the earth would be very cold. Global warming, however, is the equivalent of a greenhouse with high efficiency reflective glass installed the wrong way around.

So much heat is being kept inside greenhouse earth that the temperature of the earth is going up faster than at any previous time in history.

The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets.

Recognising that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHG emissions in the atmosphere as a result of more than 150 years of industrial activity, the Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of ""common but differentiated responsibilities.""

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2001, and are referred to as the ""Marrakesh Accords."" Its first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012.

Keywords- global warming, kyoto protocol climate change

Date: 11/11/2018

Place: 9004 building No 9