Environmentalists at the United Nations climate talks in Buenos Aires yesterday accused industrialised nations of putting their own economic well-being above the need to curb global warming for the good of all mankind.
Following a week of talks in which the European Union and the United States decided to delay a decision on their most contentious climate dispute until 2000, green lobbies charged that the main polluters were running away from their responsibility to take the lead in protecting the Earth.
"We are very disappointed in that there has been no progress on key issues at this meeting, and that has got to be deeply worrying for everyone," said Ms Kirsty Hamilton of Greenpeace International.
Her comments came on day five of the UN climate conference, also known by the acronym COP4, where governments have gathered in an effort to slow global warming by cutting the pollution being pumped into the Earth's atmosphere.
Increased emissions of carbon gases, primarily from industrialised nations, have been blamed for a rise in global warming, which scientists warn could contribute to drought, famine and even the spread of disease.
Environmental groups pointed to Hurricane Mitch, which has claimed thousands of lives in Central America, as the type of calamity that could hit with increasing frequency unless rapid action is taken to slow rising temperatures.
UN officials hope the talks in Buenos Aires, set to conclude next week, will yield a workable plan and timetable for implementing the pledge made by industrialised countries last year in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce greenhouse emissions by an average 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
Green groups say these cuts are wildly insufficient no matter how they are implemented.
"The most authoritative assessment to date concludes that a worldwide carbon dioxide reduction of 50 to 70 per cent is necessary to contain climate change," they said in a statement released in London entitled "A Message From Green Parties Across the World."
Central to the green lobby's concerns in Buenos Aires has been the European Union's and the United States' decision to delay debate on how much industrialised countries should have to cut pollution at home, as opposed to using credits they can purchase for cuts made elsewhere. "These talks should be about investment in renewable energy," said Ms Hamilton of Greenpeace.