International Relations - Critical Report Essay

International Relations - Critical Report - Essay Example Those changes are a consequence of the emission and accumulation of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases are the major air pollutants which are not only polluting the air, but also causing the atmospheric temperature to rise.  If emissions continue to grow at the present levels, the concentration of carbon dioxide will double those from pre-industrial levels during this century. Hence, to save this planet, the time has come to take appropriate measures for controlling air pollution. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Under such increasing problem of air pollution, the time has come to seriously think of this issue and take some vital steps to solve the problem of air pollution and its negative impacts. However, the major problem that arises while planning any solution measure of this problem is that the issue of air pollution is not a problem of any individual country. It’s a global problem as in this industrial age all the countries are suffering from this problem. Hence, this environmental problem can not be solved by any single country. Every country needs to be involved in the measures of controlling air pollution. Several international agencies, like United Nation, European Union, etc. have been making several efforts to control air pollution. Realizing the extent of potential dangers from air pollution lying in near future if the issue is left unaddressed; almost all the countries across the world have become quite conscious regarding the issue of air pollution and have agreed to cooperate with each other in the process of controlling it. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In an effort to obtain a global solution to the problem of air pollution, a multilateral agreement was signed by a huge number of countries in the year of 1997, at meeting conducted by UNFCCC in Kyoto. This environmental treaty is well-known as Kyoto Protocol. In recent time measures of co ntrolling air pollution included in Kyoto Protocol has become one of the most controversial environmental issues.   (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009) A brief overview of the Kyoto Protocol   A significantly large number of industrialized countries across the world, in the meeting organized by UNFCCC in Kyoto, Japan, on December, 1997, had decided to cut down the level of greenhouse gas emissions by such an extent that the level of emission would become lower than 1990 levels. All the participating countries had agreed to achieve the targeted level of emission by 2008-2012. The target is to reduce overall emissions of six major hazardous greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs, and PFCs. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009; Oberthur. and Ott, 1999) According to this multilateral agreement, participating nations should meet the emission targets mainly through national measures. However, the treaty also offers these co untries three market-based mechanisms to meet the targets. These mechanisms are emission trading that is known to be as the carbon market, Clean development mechanism (CDM) and Joint implementation (JI). All these three mechanisms help in stimulating green investment and meeting their emission targets. Another crucial feature about these mechanisms is that they are cost. (UNFCC, 2010) In order to monitor the emission level, the Protocol has implemented certain steps. All the transactions by the involved parties re