12 febbraio



Dear                 ,

As you will know, now that Russia has ratified it, the Kyoto Protocol will
at last be coming into force. This is a piece of good news at last - when
much of the news, around the fight against climate change, has been fairly
bleak over the last few years.

This will happen 90 days after the formal deposition of the 'instrument of
ratification' at the UN, which ocurred on Thursday 18th November. The
Protocol will therefore come into force on Wednesday 16th February 2005.

This will be a very significant date because we will have the world's first
international agreement on emissions reductions actually coming into force.
Whilst this will achieve very little in terms of actual significant
emissions reductions it is of enormous political and symbolic significance.
In particular it will emphasise the isolation of the United States as the
only major nation (with the exception only of Australia) not playing its
part in this, the only international coperative effort to deal with the
awesome threat we all face from the destabilisation of global climate.

We feel therefore that when the treaty comes into force, it would be the
ideal moment to both celebrate this groundbreaking event and to highlight
the non-participation of the United States and the enormous damage that
that is doing to our fight against climate change and to the hopes of all
humanity for a secure future.

Whilst we will certainly organise a demonstration here in London, UK, we
feel that it woud be infinitely more effective, and more appropriate, if
there were demonstrations around the world - in as many place as possible -
in favour of effective international action to avert the threat from the
destabilisation of global climate and against the irresponsible and
obstructive position taken by the United States on this issue. In a
nutshell, since the the whole world's future is threatened by the United
States and its sabotage of the international effort to fight climate
change, then it would be appropriate for the whole world to be protesting
aginst the United States, on this issue.

We are therefore looking for anyone who feels similarly about this and
supports this idea. If you do we would be grateful if you could get in
touch with us (<mailto:info at campaigncc.org>info at campaigncc.org) so that we
can have some idea of how much support, around the world, we have for this:
we will then be able to pass this information on to hopefully encourage
others. At the same time it would be great if you are able to spread the
word about this, and fantastic if you could take any steps towards
organising something in your country or region. We are in the process of
setting up a web page about the actions taking place at
<http://www.kyotofortheworld.net>www.kyotofortheworld.net

To be more specific we have in mind demonstrations at US embassies or
consulates around the world (and - ideally - at the Whitehouse in the US
???), synchronised for the same date. So far we have felt the Saturday
before the actual date of the 'coming into force' would be the best day to
chose, that is Saturday 12th February. As stated above we will certainly be
organising a demonstration here in London. This will be focussed on the US
embassy and involve a parade of the flags of all the countries that have
ratified the Protocol (128, with Russia).

Campaign against Climate Change