Brussels, 06/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - After the failure of the international conference in The Hague on how to combat climate change, the United States (and its allies) and the European Union resumed, on Wednesday in Ottawa (Canada), the thread of the dialogue broken off on 26 November when they failed to reach agreement on the place that should be reserved for carbon sinks in the realisation of the targets for reducing greenhouse gases assigned to industrialised countries. Participants at these technical talks, prior to resuming negotiations, included the representatives of the United States, Canada and Japan, on one hand, and the representatives of the European Commission, France, Sweden the United Kingdom and Germany, on the other. This two-day meeting is aimed to promote the search for ways to come out of the current impasse. No agreement is in sight at this stage as the developing countries are not represented. A ministerial meeting could take place next week in Oslo (Norway).
In a press release, the environmental NGO Friends of the Earth Europe welcomes the rapid resumption of discussions and calls on the Union to remain firm: "This is welcome news. The credibility of the Kyoto Protocol is at stake. However, it is vital that any agreement reached leads to real cuts in emissions rather than allowing the US and its allies yet more scope to carry on polluting. The United States must enter these new talks prepared to offer significantly more than it did in The Hague. There is little time to waste. The Union must stand firm (…) Any agreement reached in the coming months must not include unlimited credits for "sinks". Forestry plantations and crop-land management must not become ways to avoid addressing the problem of our reliance on fossil fuels".