Kyoto Protocol takes effect today

Activists hold a huge "Valentine to humanity" during a protest of US President George W. Bush's withdrawal of support for the Kyoto Protocol Monday near the White House on the Ellipse in Washington, DC. The US had withdrawn from the treaty citing a lack of scientific evidence on global warming. PHOTO: AFP

The treaty, which comes into force at 0500 GMT, seeks for the industrial world as a whole to slash its greenhouse gas emission by 5.2 percent by 2012, with targets set according to each country's pollution level.

A total of 141 countries have signed the treaty including 30 industrialized countries but not the United States or Australia, which say that Kyoto's burden to their economies would be too great.

Growing developing countries China and India are also outside the framework, a fact pointed out by US President George W. Bush when he abandoned Kyoto as one of his first acts when taking office in 2001. The treaty came into effect after the ratification of Russia.

"The countries (outside the treaty) say they will take measures on their own but I wonder if they can work," said Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura of Japan, a close US ally.

"We want to continue urging them to join the protocol," Machimura said.