160 Climate Management Issues
community was the rapid rate of ice melt in the polar areas and the fact that
the Northwest Passage was open to shipping for the rst time in recent his-
tory. Ten years ago, no one would have believed that was possible.
Again, with the scientic evidence overwhelming, although the majority
of the nations represented at the conference were eager to move forward with
negotiations on a new treaty, the United States balked once again, opposed to
including binding emissions reductions. Interestingly, at the 11th Conference
of the Parties, held in Montreal in December of 2005, the senior U.S. negotia-
tor opposed any consideration of binding targets in new talks and walked
out of the negotiations, which nearly ruined ...