Kyoto Protocol back on the boil?

Kyoto Protocol back on the boil?

The recent signing by Indonesia of the Kyoto Protocol is an
important step forward in exploring new concepts of how the
world's energy options can be better managed.

An excellent grasp of the formula involved in proceeding with
the Kyoto Protocol was summed up clearly and objectively in your
editorial of July 1.

There are valid reasons for supporting investment in new
alternatives to fossil and nuclear fuels. Stuart E. Eizenstat,
the chief American negotiator for the Clinton administration at
the 1997 Kyoto Conference, wrote in the New York Times on July 6:
"Waiting to address global warming would be a reckless gamble. If
present trends continue, green house gas concentrations -- during
the lifetimes of children born today -- will reach levels higher
than in the last 50 million years".

Of the 154 signatories at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, many are
still procrastinating, some have adopted a strangely non-
characteristic, non-laissez-faire position, and yet now with
Indonesia's signing the opportunity to move to a new, progressive
stage is tantalizingly close.

Current history, with its geopolitical energy issues, would
also suggest the Kyoto Protocol is back on the boil. Chevron-
Texaco is to be congratulated for its investment in a new
generation of geothermal energy in Indonesia, and for the
development of technologies that can allow the economical
production of cleaner, cheaper, safer energy.

GREG WARNER
Jakarta