UN: "waiting for full scientific certainty before taking action will almost certainly be too late..."

KYOTO CONTRADICTION: There is an abiding contradiction in the Kyoto Principles that is possibly strangling the innovation likely to help the world meet the threat of climate change. For those who point to the need for ‘practicalities’ to be resolved before the soil carbon solution can be attempted, “as soon as practicable” means “never” to the Soil Carbon Pessimist because soil cannot fit the current prescriptive Kyoto rules. Yet Kyoto has a rule called The Precautionary Principle:

‘The “precautionary principle” responds to the dilemma that, although many uncertainties still surround climate change, waiting for full scientific certainty before taking action will almost certainly be too late to avert its worst impacts. The Convention, following many environmental treaties before it, thus calls for “precautionary measures” to combat climate change, stating that, “where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing such measures”.’ (A Guide To The Climate Change Convention And Its Kyoto Protocol, UNFCCC, Bonn, 2002)

Which Kyoto Principle takes precedence? When will the ‘threats of serious or irreversible damage’ be recognized? How many of Stern’s 10 years be consumed pursuing ‘full scientific certainty’?