&i;'In a gloomy assessment of the global situation drawn up for the end of the millennium, Dr Topfer, a former German environment minister, gave a blunt warning that it may already be too late to stop global warming and that the Kyoto protocol, the treaty drawn up to combat climate change, may fail... Dr Topfer... is the world's most senior environmental official, and his agency has access to the scientific expertise of all parts of the UN. His warnings about the Kyoto treaty and global warming will be regarded as extremely ominous, and the GEO-2000 report will be regarded as the most authoritative summing-up of the environmental situation as the new millennium nears.'&o; The Independent