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The members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) "should be ashamed for trying to pass themselves off as victims and even attempting to obtain funds under the Kyoto Protocol," Francisco Mieres, an environmentalist and professor specialising in the oil economy, told IPS. "Not only do they contribute to global warming through the burning of gas in the production process and of crude in the refining stage, but also some of them, like Indonesia, have permitted the savage destruction of their forests," he added. The OPEC nations -- Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela -- produce 35 percent of the crude oil consumed in the world, which translates into total combined earnings of over 200 billion dollars. "They are the nouveau riche of the South, and they should contribute through the Protocol to a fund for reforestation in poor countries that are victims of desertification, which would then have forests and bodies of water that would serve as sinks for toxic gases, and also resources to combat poverty and promote development," said Mieres. The Kyoto Protocol commits 35 industrialised countries to reducing their emissions of so-called greenhouse gases, which lead to global warming, to levels 5.2 percent lower than those registered in 1990, with a final deadline of 2012. The Protocol formally took effect Wednesday, 90 days after it was ratified by Russia. For the treaty to go into force, it needed the support of countries that accounted for at least 55 percent of the industrialised world's greenhouse gas emissions. Russia's ratification brought that proportion to 61.6 percent. The OPEC members that have ratified or joined the Protocol are Indonesia, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. The bulk of greenhouse gas emissions -- which include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide -- "are fundamentally caused by the burning of fossil fuels for transportation and power generation, which means the petroleum producers share in the responsibility," Diego Díaz, president of the non-governmental environmental group Vitalis, told IPS. Nevertheless, he added, "it is difficult to ask countries like the OPEC members to look at climate change as a purely environmental issue, since petroleum is their principal export commodity and the mainstay of their economies." Venezuela, for example, depends on oil exports as its primary source of income, yet is responsible for only 0.48 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, former environment minister Ana Osorio pointed out last December. Oil production and refining processes account for most of the country's emissions. The petroleum producing nations "could identify sectors where there are opportunities to reduce emissions, which are largely the result of the obsolete technology and practices they use" in power generation and transportation, Díaz maintained. Mieres, for his part, noted that Venezuela has failed to adopt new production methods that could increase yields and value-added, in addition to being more environmentally friendly. However, the South American country's shortcomings "cannot be compared to the combined effect of the barbaric destruction of the forests and oil production in Indonesia, or the environmental disaster provoked in Russia by decades of oil extraction with harmful technology, that has affected the air, land and rivers," added Mieres, who is also a former Venezuelan ambassador to Moscow. The position shared by most of the petroleum producing countries is that the problem of climate change is primarily the responsibility of the consumer nations. "We are sellers, not buyers. Venezuela does not produce the same amount of pollution consuming 400,000 barrels a day as the United States, which burns 15 to 20 million barrels daily," Alberto Quirós, former CEO of Royal Dutch/Shell's Venezuelan operations, told IPS. Nevertheless, "Venezuela, under the Kyoto Protocol, has made the commitment to help ensure that the reduction mechanisms established are truly effective, by undertaking forestry, energy and transportation projects aimed at curbing pollution," said Gerardo Carrillo, the director of planning for the Ministry of the Environment. Venezuela's support for Kyoto "sends an important message to the international community, because it is a member of OPEC, and some of the other members have rejected the Protocol because of the economic vulnerability it could cause them," he added. Carrillo added that the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol "is a victory for Latin America, because of the strategic alliances forged by the countries of the region, some more than others, throughout 12 years of arduous negotiations." All of the experts agreed that the country most to blame for global warming and climate change is the United States, which is not only the world's number-one producer of greenhouse gases, but has also pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol. Moreover, "it is the champion of the urban car-centred culture, exemplified by the huge numbers of SUVs (sports-utility vehicles), leading to a degree of environmental destruction that will eventually turn back on it, like a snake biting its own tail," concluded Mieres.