http://www.timesofearth.com/Politics/?NT=6&nid=14244 - The biggest climate meeting in history has opened in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
Copenhagen - Participants from 192 nations gather in Copenhagen for the biggest climate meeting ever as they seek agreement on global curbs to greenhouse gas emissions.
The UN has expressed optimism over international talks on climate change that have opened in Denmark, billing it as a "turning point" in a bid to slow down global warming.
Yvo de Boer, the head of the UN framework convention on climate change, said he was confident the summit in Copenhagen, the Danish capital, would be a success.
"Copenhagen is already a turning point in the international response to climate change," he said.
The high-stakes talks are aimed at agreeing a deal for measures to help curb greenhouse gas emissions and the transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars from rich to poor countries to help developing nations adapt to climate change over the coming years.
A major challenge facing the two-week conference, which ends with a meeting of 105 world leaders on December 18, is to overcome deep distrust between rich and poor nations about sharing out the burden of costly curbs on emissions.
But the planned attendance of heads of state and pledges to curb emissions by all the top emitters led by China, the US, Russia and India have raised hopes for an accord after sluggish negotiations in the past two years.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, and Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN's climate expert panel, are among the speakers at Monday's opening session.
Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister whose country is the world's fourth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, announced on Saturday that he would attend the closing summit, joining 104 other leaders, including Barack Obama, the US president.
World leaders did not attend the last time the world's environment ministers agreed on the existing UN climate pact, known as the Kyoto Protocol, in 1997.
Copenhagen is the biggest climate change meeting in history, with 15,000 participants from more than 190 nations.
De Boer said developing nations need to take new action to slow the rise of their emissions.
He also wants rich nations to accept deep cuts to their emissions by 2020 and come up with at least $10bn a year in aid to the poor countries to kick off a deal, saying it has to be "new money, real and significant".
On Sunday he tried to allay criticism among climate change sceptics after emails from climate scientists that appeared to cast doubt on their research were recently leaked to the public.
De Boer acknowledged the emails did serious damage, but said the review process by some 2,500 scientists of climate change research was thorough and credible.
China, India, Brazil and South Africa earlier rejected a Danish suggestion to set a goal of halving world emissions by 2050, saying rich nations which have burnt fossil fuels since the industrial revolution must first cut their own emissions.
But South Africa added new impetus on Sunday, saying it was willing to cut its carbon emissions to 34 per cent below expected levels by 2020, provided that rich countries furnish financial and technological help.
The climate talks have sparked protests in many European cities, adding to the pressure world leaders are under to reduce rising emissions that the UN says will cause desertification, mudslides, more powerful cyclones, rising sea levels and the extinction of species.
The existing Kyoto pact obliges industrialised nations to cut emissions until 2012, and the idea behind the Copenhagen talks is to get action from all major emitters, including China and India, which were exempt from the Kyoto agreement.
The meeting will test how far developing nations will stick to entrenched positions, for example that rich nations must cut their greenhouse gases by at least 40 per cent by 2020 far deeper than targets on offer.
On Monday some 56 newspapers from 45 countries published a joint editorial urging rich and poor nations to unite in Copenhagen.
"At the deal's heart must be a settlement between the rich world and the developing world," it said.
"Social justice demands that the industrialised world digs deep into its pockets. Many of us, particularly in the developed world, will have to change our lifestyles."
----------------
Copyright 2009 THE TIMES OF EARTH (TOE). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Loading...
3:40
COP15 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference Treaty 2009 - Ordono Mundi - Raise Your Voiceby illuminedman4,766 views
This conference was such a waste.
joskemom 2 years ago
Watch my video. Stunning, breathtaking, strong and deep images. Thanks!
fridaysabtu 2 years ago
a. we'll throw your christmas cake on your face.
developed world screwed the climate. they pay for it. Keep developing countries off it.
Keep your sermons and your arrogant behavious (remember what sarkozy said - "Qui osera dire..." i.e who'll dare say...)....
desisher16 2 years ago
The CROOK HYPOCRITE nazi U.S is trying to SCAM the world's developing countries again. Half of these fascist SPOILED ameriKKKans are driving the trucks and SUV that suck gasoline like the hungry whores, while they bulsittt lecture the developing countries about polution. The nazi U.S's scam tricks in this climate talk are: 1) To SLOW developing countries(China...) from progressing and become stronger. 2) Sell its so called "green technologies" to developing countries at INFLATED price.
BruceLeeKickYoAss4 2 years ago 2
boucher63, no one will mention overpopulation, because no one is willing to take their own lives to solve the problem.
copenhagenNWO 2 years ago
It's time for a change of direction.
Check out William Tarkovsky's youtube eco-video The Book of New Creation!
ClimateAware 2 years ago
simple but true
TheJpisar 2 years ago
boucher63, that is little dirty secret nobody wants to admit,
corporations need lots of people to make lots of sales.
Governments need lots of people to keep their economic system going.
Religious people are all freaky about abortion.
But when is people going to wake up and realize that there are just too many people on the planet?
Reduce population and you reduce pollution, is that simple.
dermtoro 2 years ago
global warming is a hoax. more than just emails prove this.
tmac9938 2 years ago
Oh don't worry , they will take care of that. Just listen to Lord monckton or just type down "Lord" and then "copenhagen" and maybe you'll learn something.
tnoble711 2 years ago