In 1997, a second major environmental conference led by the UN happened in Kyoto, Japan. The plan was to save the environment by reducing the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The UN wanted the industrialized nations to significantly reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.
The Protocol was linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A protocol is an official procedure or a set of rules that the members are supposed to abide by.
After long and difficult negotiations, the developed countries agreed to reduce their emissions by five per cent from the levels of 1990. However, many environmentalists suggested that the emissions had to be reduced at least by 50 per cent.
Though the plan seemed splendid, it was not successful. The Kyoto Protocol was not a treaty and therefore, it was not mandatory to sign it. Moreover, USA, the world’s largest polluter, refused to accept the Protocol.
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