
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 4, 1991                   TAG: 9102040017
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SCIENTISTS OUTLINING WARMING LIMITS

Temperatures last year were warmer than in any year since records began being kept, and six of the warmest years since 1850 have occurred during the past decade.

Scientists are intrigued by the sudden string of warm years, but they're far from agreeing whether it's the beginning of the "greenhouse effect" - the trapping of the sun's heat by man-made pollution, causing severe climate changes.

Representatives from 130 nations are meeting this week to begin negotiating a treaty that would limit millions of tons of pollutants - primarily carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels - that cause global warming.

"These negotiations are every bit as important to the future of the planet as the arms control talks that have been at the center of diplomacy for the last three decades," says Daniel Lashof, a scientist who has followed the issue for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The 10-day U.N. conference in Chantilly, Va., is likely to produce little more than a general outline of goals when it concludes Feb. 14. Two more such meetings are scheduled for Geneva and Nairobi later this year.

Environmentalists hope a treaty will be ready to be signed in mid-1992 at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil.

by CNB