"Stop Playing With Our Planet!" WWF Tells Key Players At Kyoto Climate Summit
Friday, December 5th, 1997
KYOTO, JAPAN - At the end of the first week of negotiations at the Kyoto Climate Change Summit, WWF said key nations risk turning the
talks into a "football game with the planet."
Underlining their concerns that the Summit will not deliver an agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions, WWF presented a theatrical rendition of the current
status of negotiations at the Kyoto conference venue. The WWF delegation at the talks staged a football match for possession of the planet wearing the face
masks of the leaders of the USA, Russia, Japan, Germany and the UK.
"Diplomats are playing games with the planet, and nature and people will lose," said Adam Markham, director, WWF Climate Change Campaign. "Concepts like
differentiation, sinks and joint implementation are being used as loopholes to avoid actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If that happens, climate
change will accelerate and we will suffer dangerous impacts including extreme weather events, the spread of pests and diseases, and the extinction of species."
Ministers, including the United States Vice President, Al Gore, arrive in Kyoto for the last few days of negotiations early next week. WWF believes they must
bench the poor performers on their teams and demonstrate real leadership.
"Beyond the halls of Kyoto, several national surveys reveal that the publics of many nations want their governments to commit to REAL, measurable emission
cuts," Markham said. "The public cares nothing for bracketed texts and 'non-papers,' or for 100 different ways of saying 'no'. Ministers cannot ignore the
strong calls for actions from the people they represent."
WWF shared the results of a few of the many national opinion polls which show strong public support for action to combat climate change. They include four
Japanese public opinion polls conducted by Tokyo Shimbun newspaper (30 June 1997), Asahi Shimbun newspaper (31 August 1997), Nihonkeizei Shimbun newspaper (19
November 1997), and the Japanese Prime Minister's office (27 September 1997). The conservation group also shared results from a United States opinion poll
carried out for WWF by The Mellman Group, Inc. (29 September 1997).
WWF is the largest conservation organization in the world. It is calling on industrialized nations to combat climate change by cutting carbon dioxide
emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2005. WWF leads international efforts to protect the diversity of life on Earth. The WWF Climate Change
Campaign is working around the world to raise awareness of the threats of climate change to wildlife and natural ecosystems, urge governments to take action
to prevent climate change, and build partnerships with business and industry to find solutions to the problem.
CONTACT:
Gisele McAuliffe, Communications Manager, mobile phone:+ 080 109 5431
Elizabeth Foley, Press Officer, WWF-International, mobile phone: +080 109 4445.
A RADIO NEWS RELEASE (radio report) and recorded soundbites (quotes) of WWF spokespersons are available 24 hours a day -- in English, French and
Spanish -- to all radio news stations by telephoning (to the US) +1 301 570 1254 and via the Internet at www.panda.org/climate.
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