MONTREAL - IN THE environmental equivalent of name and shame,
countries making the silliest or most backward comments at
climate-change talks in Montreal are being awarded toy dump trucks
filled with coal.
In a gathering where solar, wind and geothermal power are being
touted as ways of saving the planet from the effects of global
warming, green groups are using the fossil-of-the-day award to take
the sting out of talks that stubbornly refuse to make much
progress.
'If someone says something pretty outrageous during the
negotiations sessions, we give them a fossil,' said Mr John
Lanchbery, of Birdlife International, after announcing the award,
which occurs at 6pm each day at the Montreal convention centre to
the cheers of the assembled environmental activists.
Between 200 and 300 members of environment and development groups
hold a daily catch-up meeting and vote on which countries get the
awards, Mr Lanchbery said as he stood in front of a poster showing
Tyrannosaurus rex and the website www.fossil-of-the-day.org.
On Monday, the awards went to the European Union, Japan and
Australia.
But since the talks began on Nov 28, the United States has won the
most awards for its refusal to even talk about emissions targets or
the shape of the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty when its first phase
ends in 2012. -- REUTERS
(Straits Times, 8 Dec)
Australia and the US have constantly refused to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol
