NewsNetworkToday: 19 December 2009 - UNEP: Copenhagen - As world leaders wrap up the climate talks in Copenhagen today, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that the longer it takes to reach an agreement, the more "enormous" the consequences of climate change will be.
US President Barack Obama described the latest draft agreement in Copenhagen as a, meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough, however, the agreement is non-binding and details of a binding text would have to be negotiated later.
Achim Steiner, head of The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says that the cost of not coming to an agreement could be enormous and that timing is crucial.
SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP):
If Copenhagen does not provide such an agreement, it will slow us down, and the cost of losing that time will be enormous. Enormous in terms of the physical consequences of global warming, the social consequences but almost unaffordable in economic terms. And that is why time does matter.
And scientists in the field of climate change are keenly aware those consequences.
SOUNDBITE (English) Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research:
I was never an environmental activist and so on. I was purely driven by scientific curiosity. But now, since Ive worked twenty years in this field, Ive become so scared myself about the problem that I simply feel its our duty to speak up, and not just to say its not my issue, its not my thing.
In Copenhagen, emissions reductions and financing remain the key issues in the talks on a new agreement.
Countries like the United States and Russia have agreed to raise and contribute billions of dollars to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change. But how much, under what terms and when it will be delivered still remains on the table.
President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives, involved in the ongoing negotiations, welcomed funds.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mohammed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives:
Those who have the funds should assist others who dont have, India and China as much as the United States and the European countries.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Maldives is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise. Without a global pact, financing and new technology, the small low-lying island faces the threat of submerging under-water by the end of the century.
The UN says that small island states like the Maldives, which contribute only 0.6 percent of all global warming pollution, suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change.
Big emitters like the US and China have so far not offered any new commitments to cut emissions.
Many developing countries gathered in Copenhagen, stressed on a collective approach to negotiations and action. They demanded that talks not be taken out of the hands of negotiators and run behind closed doors through selective consultations.
With all of the negotiations these past twelve days, UNEPs Achim Steiners says one thing is crystal clear.
SOUNDBITE (English) Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP):
Climate change, unlike any other environmental change phenomenon that we are familiar with, is premised upon collective action. Neither the largest economy, the United States of America, or a small island state like the Maldives can solve climate change on their own.
The climate change talks in Copenhagen are expected to end today. ........................................ (United Nations Environment Programme: UNEP). ......................................... .................... ............................................ NewsNetworkToday:
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