Towards a Houston Protocol

The inherent linkages between climate and the habitability of the Earth are increasingly well recognized, and a convention could help to ensure that conserving the environment and developing the economy in the future must go hand in hand. Due to growing environmental concern, the United Nations General Assembly has set into motion an international negotiating process for a framework convention on climate change. One of the specific tasks in these negotiations is how to share the duties in reducing climate relevant gases, particularly carbon dioxide, between the industrial and the developing countries. The respective proposals could be among the most far‐reaching ever for socio‐economic development, indeed for global security and survival itself. While the negotiations will be about climate and protection of the atmosphere,they could lead to fundamental changes in energy, forestry, transport and technology policies, and to future development pathways with low greenhouse gas emissions. Addresses some of these aspects of a climate convention and a respective CO⊂2‐agreement, the Houston Protocol.