that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" has served as an important guidepost for global environmental conservation ever since.

This concept found its voice in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (Rio Declaration) and its comprehensive action plan adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the “Earth Summit,” in 1992, twenty years after the Stockholm Conference. Ten years later in 2002, the concept again emerged in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the Johannesburg Declaration adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

## C UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol

The first world conference on global warming issues was an international conference convened in Villach, Austria in 1985 to sort out scientific findings on climate change. Thanks to its statement calling for policymakers to start cooperating on policies to prevent global warming, a specific target for cutting GHG emissions by 20% of the 1986 level by the year 2005 was declared three years later (1988) at the Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere (Toronto Conference).

The UNFCCC, an international framework designed to prevent the various adverse effects caused by global warming, was adopted in 1992 and came into force in 1994. Recognizing that the per-capita GHG emissions in developing countries is less than that in the developed countries, that the developed countries are responsible for most of the increase in the world's overall GHG emissions after the Industrial Revolution, and that there are differences among countries in their respective situations and capabilities for implementing global warming measures, the UNFCCC based on the basic principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities" agreed that all parties, including developing countries, developed countries, countries of the former Soviet Union, and East European countries, take responsibility for implementing global warming measures at different levels. A total of 189 countries, including the United States, participate in the convention.

As the first step to achieve the objective of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, which incorporated binding targets of GHG emissions reduction for developed countries, was adopted in the 3rd Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. Since the United States refused to take part and international negotiations on operational details stalled, the Kyoto Protocol did not go into effect for quite a while.

In the meantime, Japan actively appealed to countries that had not ratified the Protocol, including the United States, and tenaciously continued international negotiations in order to put in place the conditions for the Protocol to enter into force. As a result, the Marrakesh Accords, which provided detailed operating regulations, were adopted in 2001, creating the environment for the ratification of the Protocol by various countries. After Russia decided to ratify the Protocol in 2004, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force in 2005.

## (2) Future Challenges

As described above, in the thirty-some years since the Stockholm Conference in 1972, the international community has held many conferences to try to resolve global environmental issues. Numerous discussions have been held, covering differences dividing the northern and southern hemispheres. For example, in the discussion about a post-2013 framework at the 2002 Johannesburg Summit (attended by heads of States from 104 countries and representatives from over 190 countries), while the developed countries sought a framework that would require the participation of all countries, the Group of 77 (G77) and China (a group of developing states in the UN) were worried about missing out on their countries' opportunity for economic development and took an opposing stance, saying that until the developed countries could fully implement the Kyoto Protocol, they should not ask other countries for new commitments.

The difference in position and opinion also exists within the camps of the developed countries and the developing countries. Among the developed countries, there were debates on how to formulate a post-2013 framework, including methods to determine the national emissions targets and the base year. The developing countries, represented by the G77 and China, are made up of many groups; namely, emerging economies such as China, India, and Brazil; OPEC countries that export oil to developed countries and Arabian oil-producing countries; the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) that are most vulnerable to the impacts (rise in sea level) of global warming; and African countries that have low GHG emissions but are most susceptible to the impacts of global warming. Thus, the groups advocated different claims based on their different positions. For example, the AOSIS, wary of the rise of the emerging economies, asserted that differentiated responsibilities among developing countries should be incorporated into the post-2013 framework.

The position and opinion held by different countries are becoming increasingly complicated. As a result, interna-