While the U.S. last year increased their greenhouse gasemmisions by a staggering 3.4 per cent over 1995, Japanhas put forward a ridiculously weak proposal. PresidentClinton is expected to announce the official U.S.proposal later today. Meanwhile many countries are already experiencingdramatic impacts to their economies and livelihoods fromextreme and unpredictable weather events similar tothose which scientists say could be expected in aglobally warmed world. The base year is 1990. Greenpeace has calculated that only a fraction of thealready known oil, gas and coal reserves can be burnedwithout risking dangerous climate change.
Droughts havebecome longer and bursts of precipitation more intense.
Worldwide, the rise in severe wind and and flood-relatedevents have caused extraordinary losses for propertyinsurers. Annual United States reinsurance payouts haverisen sevenfold this decade.