Steady increase in greenhouse gases

Despite Kyoto and much talk about climate change, greenhouse gases of 40 industrialised nations are on the increase (again). 

From the UN News Centre:

Greenhouse gas emissions of 40 industrialized countries rose by 2.3 per cent between 2000 and 2006, while still about 5 per cent below the 1990 level, according to United Nations figures released today, two weeks before a major review conference on the issue.

For the smaller group of industrialized countries that ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol setting reduction targets, emissions in 2006 were about 17 per cent below the Protocol’s 1990 base line, but they still grew after 2000. The pre-2000 decrease stemmed from the economic decline of transition countries in Eastern and Central Europe in the 1990s.

Africa is expected to be particularly vulnerable to climatic variability. For Africans this is not good news.