"De Boer Speaks on Climate Change Treaty"

[GreenPartyVoter]

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - The treaty that replaces the Kyoto Protocol on climate change could be a potpourri of legal obligations, nonbinding commitments and aid arrangements for the developing world, but each nation should choose its own course, the U.N.'s top climate official said Thursday.

At the outset of a season of climate negotiations, Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, said countries like the United States are mistaken if they dismiss the Kyoto process on the grounds it is forcing them into unwanted legal commitments.

"Countries themselves are in the best position to decide how they can achieve a target to which they commit," he told The Associated Press from his headquarters in Bonn, Germany. "You should not seek to impose legally binding commitments on countries."

At the same time, he said, it was up to the industrialized nations to take the lead in fighting global warming, and that binding commitments give a strong signal to energy investors on where to put their money.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20070823/D8R6V4SG0.html