Negotiations on climate change treaty to start in 1990.

Negotiations on climate change treaty to start in 1990 Negotiations for an international treaty on climate change is to begin in 1990 and a treaty may be ready for signature in 1992. Work will also begin without delay on a treaty to conserve biological diversity.

Both decisions were taken by representatives from 103 countries gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, at the fifteenth session (15-26 May) of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Delegations expressed their fear of rising seas, changing weather patterns and increasing risks to human health caused by global warming, and pressed for a treaty to be concluded as soon as possible.

The treaty, to be prepared by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), will take into account the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to be released by October 1990. But Governments were asked to start combating climate change now, instead of waiting for the outcome of these negotiations.

Among immediate measures recommended were: compliance a with the 1987 Montreal Protocol on substances which deplete the ozone layer and adoption of even more stringent controls, combating deforestation, improving energy efficiency, and controlling or reducing emissions of "greenhouse gases", such as carbon dioxide. Adequate technologies should be transferred to developing countries, the Council also recommended.

The General Assembly recognized in 1988 (resolution 43/53) that climate change was a "common concern of humanity" and that international action should be taken to deal with that phenomenon.

To conserve

biological diversity

Legal and technical expert groups will start immediate work on an international instrument on biological diversity, the Governing Council decided. Experts estimate that every day 100 species of flora or fauna are lost forever and that climate change will result in increased losses.

A quarter of the earth's estimated 5 to 30 million plants, animals, micro-organisms and ecosystems are believed to be in serious risk of extinction within 20 to 30 years. Many may die out before they have even been identified.

Their loss threatens not only the global climate and the maintenance of oxygen in the atmosphere, but also such vital industries as those producing pharmaceuticals from plants, and crop breeding.

Sharper focus for UNEP

Bringing a sharper, more effective focus to its work, UNEP will concentrate on the following eight priority areas, to which it will devote more than 70 per cent of its resources: atmosphere (climate change and global warming, ozone layer and transboundary air pollution); freshwater resources; oceans and coastal areas and resources; land resources (deforestation and desertification); biological diversity; biotechnology; hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals; and protection of human health and quality of life--especially the living and working environment of poor people--from environmental degradation.