Amman -- Jordan, bound by environmental clauses in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US, is currently mulling over signing the Kyoto Protocol on global warming even though Washington turned down the protocol six months ago. 
	
	
 Having clauses on the protection of environmental and labour rights in the body of the FTA does not stop the government from signing environmental agreements refused by the US, according to Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Environment Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat. 
	
	
 He explained to The Jordan Times that "in Jordan, we conclusively believe that development cannot be achieved unless the environment is protected." Certain steps have to be taken with regard to this objective -- including signing the Kyoto deal, he said. 
	
	
 He announced the government's intentions to sign the Kyoto treaty on Sunday during a workshop on climate change, organised by the ministry and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 
	
	
 In 1992, Jordan signed the UN Climate Change Convention that compels nations to curb global warming, which is blamed on gases produced by factories and cars that burn fuel. The Kyoto climate treaty is another international effort to limit greenhouse gases and fight global warming. 
	
	
 Asked whether signing the Kyoto Protocol will affect Jordan and US efforts to upgrade the Kingdom's environmental framework, Tbeishat said that signing the protocol will have a "positive" outcome on Jordan. 
	
	
 He explained that both the US and Jordan have different issues to deal with on a national level, including environmental issues. 
	
	
 "In the US, they have their own circumstances," the minister said. "But here, we are a developing country and we care about having clean industry...the whole world knows our position, [which is] to achieve sustainable development." 
	
	
 The Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon by 160 countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The convention was created in 1992, and adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. 
	
	
 Under the agreement, industrialised nations must reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases by an average of 5.2 per cent (from 1990 levels) from between 2008 to 2012. 
	
	
 After the Clinton administration signed the Kyoto Protocol in November 1998, the new Bush administration overturned the decision last April, as the US was facing a faltering economy and rising energy prices.