Introduction

In a previous Article in ELR,¹ the authors examined issues related to international greenhouse gas emissions trading under the as-yet unratified Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.² This Dialogue builds upon, and assumes the reader's knowledge of, the previous Article.

Efficient combustion largely prevents the formation of many criteria pollutants.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol provides for a 5% reduction in 1990 levels of greenhouse gases by 2008-2012 in order to stem global warming. The developed nations have agreed to specific greenhouse gas reduction levels; the U.S. quota reduction is 7%.¹ The Kyoto Protocol also provides broad objectives, the details of which are to be worked by the Conference of the Parties.

In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its Third Assessment Report (TAR)¹ on the prospects for and likely impact of increases in global average temperature over the next century.

Many participants in the global warming debate recounted in this Article appear either to have been unaware of or have chosen to ignore numerous commitments made by the United States pursuant to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or Convention).¹ For instance, on numerous occasions members of the U.S.

On January 5, 2002, the fourth day of the 102d annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in New Orleans, Louisiana, the section on environmental law sponsored a well-attended, provocative panel discussion entitled "Global Climate Change Policy and Perspectives." The session was moderated by Prof. Mark Squillace of the University of Wyoming Law School. Participants included Haroon S.

Climate change is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the United States and the international community.¹ The Bush Administration's rejection² of the Kyoto Protocol (the Protocol)³ and related activities have focused a significant amount of public attention on the issue, both at home and abroad.

The George W. Bush Administration's refusal to deal seriously with the problem of global warming, perhaps the greatest environmental problem of our time, requires that the international community think seriously about alternative ways of inducing or even compelling the United States to meet its global responsibilities. One strategy being considered is litigation. There are a variety of forms that global warming litigation could take. Plaintiffs harmed by global warming could bring actions in U.S.

Editors' Summary: The controversial Kyoto Protocol, negotiated in December 1997, is the first major step toward implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Protocol sets targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by industrialized countries. This Dialogue focuses on the provisions of the Protocol that are concerned with carbon absorption by terrestrial ecosystems. It also examines the provisions' potential for creating effective and sustainable management of forests and associated biodiversity.

The federal public lands—national forests, parks, and rangelands—are widely known for their vast natural resources: timber; range; minerals; watersheds; wildlife; and sweeping vistas of incredible beauty and diversity. No less notable are the cultural resources found on the public lands. Some of the earliest withdrawals of public lands from homesteading or other disposition occurred because of their cultural and historic importance.