Oil matters: economic and environmental prospects hinge on global cooperation.

• Author: Gorelick, Melissa

FOR DECADES, THE BATTLE LINES OVER OIL, the world markets and the environment have been clearly drawn. But recently there has been an unprecedented shift in the conversation surrounding-energy issues. Scientists and politicians have finally managed to rouse an undecided public to a climate crisis that may be "inconvenient", but is increasingly and disturbingly "true". Meanwhile, economists worldwide are attempting to dispel apocalyptic predictions about the global oil supply. The international community finds itself in the difficult position of gauging energy truths on a daily basis. How would a polar ice cap melt affect the subarctic world? What do exorbitant gas prices really mean? While oil talk is messy, its bottom line is clear: today's energy problems are global ones and require global solutions.

To this end, the United Nations has led the way in coordinating a unified international energy effort. Moreover, it has taken innovative steps to draw human voices into a debate that, for all its urgency, can seem daunting and inaccessible to those that it affects most: consumers and workers the world over.

Three UN treaty bodies met in May 2006 to address the economic and environmental impact of energy usage. The fourteenth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development heard from groups as varied as trade union leaders, indigenous representatives and technology specialists as it discussed a long-term international energy strategy. A week later, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues held a regional meeting on the Arctic, where representatives of the Arctic Council spoke passionately about the changes occurring in their homelands. Finally, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Bonn, Germany, during the 24th session of subsidiary bodies to tackle the issue of a post-Kyoto Protocol strategy for the first time. The Protocol's initial commitment period, ratified by 163 States in an attempt to lower global energy emissions, expires in 2012.

Keeping fossil fuels available, realistically priced and environmentally friendly goes beyond what Governments alone are able to do. However, energy debates have nonetheless been plagued by regional strife, and cooperation is often elusive. The question of energy-specific regulations has been a contentious one for countries with high or rapidly rising industry levels, such as the United States, China and India. In 2001, the United States formally withdrew from the...