Russia ambiguous on Kyoto

With Russia blowing hot and cold on ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, the ninth conference of parties (cop-9) to the un Framework Convention on Climate Change (unfccc) was reduced to a near non-event. The meeting -- held in Milan, Italy, from December 1-12 and attended by over 5000 participants -- ended with the world no wiser about Moscow's intentions.

Time for a rethink

Let's face it: the global climate change regime is stuck in a rut. It is unlikely that things will change dramatically at the forthcoming conference of the parties (CoP-9) of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC). Of course, it is possible that Russia could surprise everyone by deciding to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. It is possible, but not probable.

Stupid growth

The Sensex stock index has risen by 75 per cent since April this year. The rupee is at a three-year high. Global investment analysts Goldman Sachs predict that India is the fastest growing of the four " BRIC " -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- economies expected to it big in the next 50 years or so. We are "feeling good", say financial planners.

Kyoto in trouble

the Kyoto Protocol is in trouble. Russia may not ratify it. And even if it does, it's not going to do so anytime soon. That was the message, loud and clear, from the Russian president Vladimir Putin and his aides at the recent World Climate Change Conference held in Moscow, Russia, recently.

Russia reneging on Kyoto?

The earth is hotter than it has been in the past 2000 years and the largest ice shelf in the Artic has broken into two after having existed for 3000 years. But all that Russia does is procrastinate over endorsing the Kyoto Protocol -- the multilateral mechanism to check global warming (increasingly seen as the culprit behind such unprecedented occurrences).

Out with asbestos!

September saw a slew of developments giving renewed impetus to the global movement against asbestos. While a consensus was evolved in three conferences -- organised in different parts of the world -- to prohibit the use of the toxic fibre, Japan went ahead and banned it.

Threat resurfaces

It was the Kursk tragedy revisited as Russia lost another of its nuclear submarines to the Barents Sea. The incident, in which nine servicemen were killed, came just three years after the nuclear submarine Kursk went down with a crew of 118. This time it was the 40-year old nuclear-powered submarine, k-159, which sank as it was being towed to a scrapyard. The disaster has raised fears about the environmental fallout from possible radiation leak.

Siphoning feared

Ecologists doubt whether the World Bank's us $22.4-million loan will actually be utilised to save Russia's Baikal lake. The amount is to be spent on 'greening' the cellulose plant that drains about 115,000 cubic metres of toxic effluent, including chlorine, sulphur and dioxins, into the waterbody daily. The unit is sited along the lake at Baikalsk.

Snippets

• The Ministry for Protection of the Environment and Natural Resources of Russia has sold nine plots of wood in the Kaluzhsky region through an Internet auction. Apart from over 1,600 hits from Russia itself, the auction site had traffic from Ukraine, US, Germany, Bulgaria, Norway, United Arab Emirates, South Korea and Turkey, among others. The authorities hailed the event as a move towards the creation of a Russian electronic stock exchange for wood that will improve forestry management.

Water proof

The Martian North Pole is honeycombed with frozen water. These are the findings of a us-Russian team of scientists, who recently analysed data of the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, two nasa satellites. The discovery is good news for those who believe life might have been present on Mars in the past, since liquid water is a prerequisite for the development of Earth-type life forms.