That wacky, crazy Kyoto Treaty

Amazon burning makes Brazil a leading polluter

By Axel Bugge, Swiss Info

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Burning of the Amazon and other forests accounts for three quarters of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions andhas made the country one of the world's leading polluters, a long-delayed government report shows.

The report is the first official recognition by Brazil of the vast scale of burning of the Amazon, the world's largest tropical forest and home toup to 30 percent of the planet's animal and plant species.

Environmentalists said the report would probably make Brazil the world's sixth largest polluter. They said it could give impetus to richcountries' calls for leading developing nations to share in the burden of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming.

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Brazil was obliged to produce the inventory as a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but as a developingcountry it does not need to cut emissions under the treaty.

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Brazil has long argued that rich, developed countries need to make the greatest sacrifice to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as rich nations started the process of polluting years ago with the industrial revolution.

The United States has not signed the Kyoto Protocol, saying that big, developing countries like China, India and Brazil need to assume commitments to cut pollution as well.

Mata Musing

Is there any question why we shouldn't be a part of this idiotic agreement?