The Labor Prime Minister touched upon everything from saving whales and protecting dolphins to purchasing timber from legal and sustainable sources. It is intended to take stock of progress made towards environmental protection and restoration in the 10 years since 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Blair said he would attend next year's summit and hoped that the Kyoto Protocol would be ratified by then. In 1997, some 39 industrialized nations agreed in Kyoto, Japan, to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by the period 2008-2012. The protocol has yet to take effect because it must be ratified by 55 percent of the nations emitting at least 55 percent of the six greenhouse gases.
Ratification is unlikely to occur until countries agree on how to meet their targets.
This will be the subject of climate talks in Bonn, Germany, from July 16 to 27. Blair concluded his speech with a warning and a challenge. It is the fate of the human race that as science and prosperity advance, we have the possibility of ever greater global wealth, and the capacity to self destruct. Nuclear weapons proliferation, and environmental degradation are the two threats we face together. Britain on its own cannot do it.