The Kyoto Protocol sets emission reduction targets for industrialised countries. These aim to reduce the so-called greenhouse gas effect, which could lead to climate change. While some places will warm, others might cool, get dryer, wetter, stormier, and more freak weather is likely. Many of the changes are expected to be detrimental, in particular to those places already vulnerable to climatic circumstance.
Last year was the second warmest on record globally according to the World Meteorological Organization. Dry areas of Africa, prone to crop failure because of sustained drought, could become even dryer. Areas prone to flooding, such as Bangladesh, are likely to be even wetter.
Tropical diseases are already spreading to more moderate climates. And low lying islands, particularly those in the Indian and Pacific Ocean, may disappear completely under rising sea levels.
