THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The European Union rejected a proposal Thursday from the United States, Japan and Canada on how to cut levels of greenhouse gases that are raising the earth's temperature.
The U.S.-led plan, which environmental groups also harshly rejected, suggests using so-called carbon ''sinks'' - forests and lands that absorb carbon dioxide pollution - to help meet targets of carbon dioxide reduction agreed to under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.
The 15-nation European Union said it opposes the proposal because it ''does not ensure the environmental integrity of the Kyoto Protocol.''
The rejection on the fourth day of the conference set the stage for a tough battle when environment ministers arrive next week at the U.N. Climate Conference. They are expected to agree to concrete measures to combat global warming.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, reached at a meeting in Japan, world leaders agreed to lower global greenhouse gas emissions before 2012 by 5.2 percent from their 1990 levels.
The EU statement added that the U.S. proposal was too vague and ''open ended.'' It said the proposal was overly focussed on short-term measures and ''does not solve remaining problems for the future.''
European delegates and environmentalists had predicted that ''sinks'' might be the most critical issue to be resolved during the two-week conference.
About 2,000 government negotiators from about 150 countries were working around the clock to seek agreements on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. plan also envisions agriculture and woodland projects that would count as reductions in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide without requiring curbs in emissions from factory smokestacks.
Some industrial countries have such extensive forests that they could meet their entire targets without changing the release of pollution.
''We strongly support including sink activities,'' U.S. delegate David Sandalow said. ''We believe this can be an important tool to fight global warming.''
U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday that they plan to meet half their Kyoto targets with credits from sinks. Otherwise, the officials said, the United States would never have agreed to the protocol.
Under the Kyoto agreement, Europe would cut 8 percent off its 1990 emission levels; Japan would reduce output 6 percent; and the United States would trim 7 percent.
''We are profoundly concerned and foresee that some of these measures could threaten the survival of our people,'' said Rosemary Kuptana of Canada's Inuit (Eskimo) population. ''Our fragile ecosystem is being compromised.''
Global warming doesn't just threaten rare animal species, she said, it can also wipe out entire nations that strongly rely on natural surroundings for food and shelter.
Another point of contention that will face government ministers in the second week of talks is the issue of emission credit trading, whereby rich nations would be able to purchase emissions credits from less polluting countries.
''We do not wish to be museums for trees in order to allow industrial countries to continue with their pollution,'' said Leonard Nurse, director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
Smaller and poorer countries, often the most vulnerable to rising sea levels and severe storms that result from climate change, fear their worries won't be addressed during high-level talks next week.
''The Kyoto Protocol must be ratified as a first step,'' Kuptana said. ''The dramatic changes we see in Canada's north are a signal of what's in store for other regions of the world.''
