【单选题】

PlanetEarth was stricken by floods, drought and fire in 1997, a year which ended with the world’s major polluters quarreling about ways to prevent further environmental disasters.

The climate was dominated in the latter part of the year byE1 Nino, an swelling of warmer water off the SouthAmerican coast which affects global weather patterns. "I think for sure the most dramatic thing has been theE1 Nino phenomenon that has been experienced throughout the tropics," said Jeffrey Sayer, director-general of the InternationalCenter for Forestry Research.E1 Nino is being blamed for widespread floods and drought in the tropics, and has affected other areas as well.
A、major demonstration of the phenomenon was drought-intensified bush fires in Indonesia that spread a smog across large areas of SoutheastAsia before badly-delayed rains started to fall in late November.Apart fromE1 Nino, eastern and centralEurope suffered the worst floods in living memory in early July, with over 100 people killed and many thousands of families displaced through the region.
In the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, a UN gathering of 159 countries on global warming finally agreed on cutting greenhouse gas emissions through the next decade after 11 days of confused and uncontrolled negotiations. The conference accepted scientific evidence that heating of theEarth’s surface by gases trapped in the atmosphere causes more and fiercer storms, expanding deserts, melting polar ice and raising sea levels which threaten to flood lowlying islands.
US Vice PresidentA1 Gore called the Kyoto agreement "a vital turning point," but added that more still needed to be done.
The word "polluters" in the first paragraph probably refers to those ______ which have polluted the environment.
A、wastes B、countriesC、companies D、pollutants