The Kyoto Protocol is a plan created by the United Nations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.The plan aims to reduce the amount of industrial gases released into the environment.Some scientists say carbon dioxide and other industrial gases are to blame for climate change around the world.The scientists say such gases build up in the atmosphere and trap heat below.They say this results in increasing temperatures and rising sea levels. The plan is called the Kyoto Protocol because it was negotiated in Kyoto,Japan in December,1997.The goal of the agreement is to reduce the amount of emissions --industrial gases released to below the levels of 1990. Nations responsible for at least 55%of the world's industrial carbon dioxide emissions had to approve the agreement before it could go into effect.The European Union and many other industrial nations quickly approved the Kyoto Protocol.They receive credit for their own emissions if they invest in cleaned technologies in developing nations.Developing nations do not have to meet the emissions requirements of the agreement. The United States produced 36%of the world's carbon dioxide emissions in 1999.But the United States refused to approve the Kyoto Protocol.Before the Protocol was negotiated,the United States Senate voted that any treaty harmful to the economy of the United States could not be signed.President Bush has said that he supports the general idea of the treaty but will not send the treaty to the Senate for approval.Mr. Bush said that the agreement sets unfair differences between industrial and developing nations.He also said that the treaty could cause some Americans to lose their jobs. After the United States rejected the Kyoto Protocol,approval by Russia was necessary for the agreement to come into effect.Russia approved the Protocol in November,2004 and the Kyoto Protocol went into effect on February 16th,2005.157 countries have approved the agreement. How many years was the Kyoto Protocol negotiated before its coming into effect?
Nearly 1 year. Nearly 6 years. Nearly 8 years. Nearly 15 years.