Зеленый мир

41 7. What makes rainforests the oldest habitats on the planet? 8. Why do people keep cutting down the rainforests? 9. Pick out from Text C the information testifying to the significance of rainforests both for wildlife and man. 10. What can be done to preserve rainforests? 11. Find common issues raised in the interview (Text B) and in Text C. 12. Sum up the information from the three texts to prove that forests on the whole and rainforests in particular are a natural environmental resource of vital importance. TEXT 6 Read the article to learn some basic information on the history and key elements of the Kyoto treaty – one of the most important international agreements aimed at fighting global warming. KYOTO TREATY TAKES EFFECT TODAY Impact on Global Warming May Be Largely Symbolic By Shankar Vedantam Washington Post Staff Writer February 16, 2005 The Kyoto treaty to reduce global warming goes into effect today after seven years of wrangling, harangues, and dramatic entrances and exits by Russia and the United States. The global environmental movement calls it a historic victory, but critics in the industry and elsewhere say the bang could end in a whimper: emissions of carbon dioxide will continue to rise, many of the cuts in greenhouse gases claimed under Kyoto probably would have happened anyway, and its future could be derailed by the stony opposition of the Bush administration. Supporters acknowledge those realities but argue that the real impact of the treaty is not tangible. “The greatest value is symbolic,” said Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, an independent research and advocacy organization that works with many large companies interested in addressing the risks of global warming. With the United States on the sidelines, the Kyoto treaty could end up as ineffectual as the post-World War I Lea...