Figure 1: Sheep herding in Australia

        The Kyoto Protocol was the second attempt at getting majoring industrialized countries to lower their CO2 emissions.  The first attempt was in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.  167 countries signed an agreement to voluntarily lower their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  None of the countries reached their goals so in 1997 there was a meeting in Kyoto, Japan (Source 1).  At Kyoto, 30 western industrialized countries agreed to lower their emissions to 1990 levels by 2012.  The Kyoto Protocol had the influence of international law unlike the Rio agreement.  Unfortunately, the United States refused to agree to the Kyoto Protocol because it could potentially harm their economy (Source 1).  As the years progressed in became increasingly clear that the countries were not going to be able to meet their CO2 emissions rates.  Although industrialized, the Kyoto Protocol did not include Brazil, China, India and other developing countries so as to not hinder them in their developing (source 1).  However, China surpassed the US in GHG emissions in 2008, while India and Brazil were rapidly growing.  With the Kyoto Protocol due to expire in 2012, these new agreements were made: extended to 2015, included all countries, and new goals would be set in 2015.  This is called the Durban Agreement.  Australia is a member of the Kyoto Protocol and their target emission rate is +8% (Source 2).  Australia is the only country in the world whose GHG emissions are greater for animals than those of humans.  Australia has discussed putting a “flatulence tax” on sheep farms, and Australian scientists have started working on an anti-flatulence inoculation to reduce sheep emissions (Source 1).



By Tori Sanders
Work Cited:
(Figure 1) https://www.google.com/search?q=sheep+in+australia
(Source 1) Geography and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World Textbook 4th Edition
(Source 2) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/3145.php