Canada became the leading nation to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol in December 2011. Canadian government 's choice to discontinue its international commitment to the Kyoto Protocol will negatively impact Canada in the long term. Despite the many issues the Kyoto protocol has, it was the first serious step towards slowing global warming and was leading to progressive action on climate change.(source 1) Leaving the Protocol altogether was not the answer, Canada should have pushed through and if they were incapable of reducing their emissions below the 1990 level by the desired schedule, negotiated a follow-up agreement. Canada being the first country to officially leave the Kyoto Protocol left many Canadians and a number of reputable environmental
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Canada will be disproportionately negatively affected by global warming due to the location of Canada’s northern regions. The arctic is a very fragile ecosystem due its extreme weather conditions enabling fewer species to thrive and an overall less diverse population. This less diverse population results in a simpler food chain. Subsequently, if one species is wiped out due to glaciers melting, thawing permafrost, or extreme weather changes all caused by global warming then it is more difficult for the animals living there to adapt and continually adds stress to the ecosystem. The melting trend in northern Canada is increasing. Rapidly Over the past 30 years, the annual average sea-ice extent has decreased almost one million square kilometers ( source 12). Proof that it is possible to slow this down is on January 1st 1989, the day The Montreal Protocol came into affect. It was an international treaty to phase out various products that were contributing to ozone depletion. The proof was in the animals living in the arctic; they were developing skin cancer and cataracts in early stages of life due excessive amounts of UV radiation that wasn’t being filtered out in the atmosphere. The protocol was tremendously affective, it is predicted that the ozone will nearly be completely recovered by 2050. (source 13)The Montreal Protocol was the foundation The Kyoto Protocol was built on, demonstrating that …show more content…
Canadian government 's choice to discontinue its international commitment to the Kyoto Protocol has drawn criticism worldwide. Prior to the Kyoto protocol Canada has had one of the finest international reputations in the world in regards to our environmental solutions. The Canadian government is overlooking how valuable of an asset an international reputation can be. This action sends the disastrous message to other countries that one of the top-ten global climate change polluters has withdrawn from its determinations to reduce emissions. (source 3). Next time Canada wants to take a leading role on a project approaching climate change Canada will be far less credible. This is because Canada talked a big game, and until Canada was faced with a difficulty in meeting deadlines and coughing up money in a deep commitment it backed out entirely, instead of negotiating an agreement that Canada could abide by. This proves that Canada can only be trusted with shallow international agreements. Any other agreements that might demand similar deep commitments, such as trade could have countries second-guessing their own commitment to Canada. Overall, Canada will suffer politically from its retraction from the Kyoto
Canada will be disproportionately negatively affected by global warming due to the location of Canada’s northern regions. The arctic is a very fragile ecosystem due its extreme weather conditions enabling fewer species to thrive and an overall less diverse population. This less diverse population results in a simpler food chain. Subsequently, if one species is wiped out due to glaciers melting, thawing permafrost, or extreme weather changes all caused by global warming then it is more difficult for the animals living there to adapt and continually adds stress to the ecosystem. The melting trend in northern Canada is increasing. Rapidly Over the past 30 years, the annual average sea-ice extent has decreased almost one million square kilometers ( source 12). Proof that it is possible to slow this down is on January 1st 1989, the day The Montreal Protocol came into affect. It was an international treaty to phase out various products that were contributing to ozone depletion. The proof was in the animals living in the arctic; they were developing skin cancer and cataracts in early stages of life due excessive amounts of UV radiation that wasn’t being filtered out in the atmosphere. The protocol was tremendously affective, it is predicted that the ozone will nearly be completely recovered by 2050. (source 13)The Montreal Protocol was the foundation The Kyoto Protocol was built on, demonstrating that …show more content…
Canadian government 's choice to discontinue its international commitment to the Kyoto Protocol has drawn criticism worldwide. Prior to the Kyoto protocol Canada has had one of the finest international reputations in the world in regards to our environmental solutions. The Canadian government is overlooking how valuable of an asset an international reputation can be. This action sends the disastrous message to other countries that one of the top-ten global climate change polluters has withdrawn from its determinations to reduce emissions. (source 3). Next time Canada wants to take a leading role on a project approaching climate change Canada will be far less credible. This is because Canada talked a big game, and until Canada was faced with a difficulty in meeting deadlines and coughing up money in a deep commitment it backed out entirely, instead of negotiating an agreement that Canada could abide by. This proves that Canada can only be trusted with shallow international agreements. Any other agreements that might demand similar deep commitments, such as trade could have countries second-guessing their own commitment to Canada. Overall, Canada will suffer politically from its retraction from the Kyoto