now that the drama over the us presidential election has ended, it is time to understand what is in store. Domestic politics of the us has a direct bearing on most environmental negotiations, and us representatives seldom miss an opportunity to use it as an instrument of coercion, one example being the Republican-dominated senate's refusal to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

At the November climate talks in The Hague, those keen on a watered-down deal were constantly using George W Bush as a bogey. They argued that the world community should give in to us obduracy, as the chances of the us signing any sort of agreement would disappear if Bush came to power.

Bush has openly rubbished the threat of climate change, saying that the science of climate is little understood, despite numerous studies over the past three years that prove global warming is a greater danger than previously estimated. us vice president Al Gore, the Democratic party candidate, has carefully crafted a