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UN climate talks go into overtime
Image..After two weeks of playing political poker with the fate of the climate, governments negotiating the next painfully slow steps to agree a deal to tackle climate change have finally produced something worth talking about.
While it is shocking that the UN talks in Durban have had to go into overtime to produce a paper that can allow governments to meet the low level of ambition with which they begun, time is running out to produce a deal this year. Governments need to focus on saving the planet rather than saving face.
A final version of the text came out just after midnight last night and throughout the night the draft was shopped around to gauge support before being brought back into formal negotiations this morning.
As the morning plenary opens again today, we will be able to see if vital elements are still in play: a way to close the gap between climate science and emission reduction targets; a workable approach to getting treaty covering all countries emissions by 2015 at the latest and; the adoption of a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.
If over night the proposal was weakened we will be able to tell by the oily fingerprints of the US; we will know whether countries such as EU, China and India have chosen to side with the most vulnerable countries and those currently suffering form the climate impacts or to hide behind US intransigence.
We are here to stand with the most vulnerable countries whose basic survival needs have not been met by the men and women negotiating in the conference halls of the UN climate talks. We are here to call upon government minsters to listen to the people and not the polluters.
Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/climate/un-climate-talks-go-into-overtime/blog/38341/
