Warming up to Kyoto as climes freeze
The reality of global warming was reaffirmed in two major incidents in West Asia recently. While Saudi Arabia (sa) decided to sign the Kyoto Protocol, the global treaty to fight climate change, the United Arab Emirates (uae) witnessed drastic weather changes: first ever snowfall, heavy rains and unusual chill.
sa has traditionally been opposed to the Kyoto Protocol but it decided to approve it in a recent cabinet meeting. The country is now preparing a royal announcement to endorse the treaty formally. The pact will, however, not enforce emission reductions on the world's biggest oil exporter because it is a developing country. While confirming sa 's intention of signing the protocol, the country's oil minister Ali al-Naimi recently told the un climate change conference in Argentina that his country will lose billions of dollars in reduced oil sales. "By the year 2010, sa will lose at least us $19 billion a year as a result of the policies the industrialised nations will adopt to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.' sa had earlier held the view that oil-exporting nations should be compensated for the losses incurred due to the implementation of the protocol.
As sa joined the fight against climate change, the climate in the neighbouring uae changed in reality. The whole country experienced an unusually cold spell and heavy rainfall. It snowed heavily in the 1,737 metres high Al-Jees mountain range in Ras al-Khaimah. This was the first ever snowfall in the country. The place recorded temperatures as low as minus 5