 Copenhagen must be comprehensive. It must deliver on all major questions across the building blocks. It must launch immediate action. Let's get it done. The countdown to what has been termed the most important global summit for years is over. The United Nations Conference on Climate Change COP 15 has now started. Thousands of people and particularly many from the poorest countries of the world have come to Copenhagen to give their input to the agreement that the whole world is hoping for. Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, we will now proceed with our work under item two, organizational matters. The most important goal for COP 15 is fairly simple and based on the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, keep global warming below 2 degrees centigrade over the coming century or face catastrophic consequences. This documentary follows delegates from some of the world's poorest countries throughout the COP 15 summit. They come with hopes raised high by the commitments promised by many world leaders for genuine action and not just more words. And we need to get down to business as soon as possible. What will happen from here will have significant consequences to what happens to the life of the humanity, particularly those who are affected, the poor of the world. Bolivia is losing. Right now, it's a glacier. Whatever offset or money you can give us, you will never replace a single glacier that will disappear in Bolivia or a single species that will disappear because of the irresponsible behavior and development of developed countries. The world's unrest is in an unusually strong position over the climate conditions. The demand for money on the table has not been reached. leaders to come to terms so that this we can be, first of all we can be compensated and second of all actual actions are taken to reduce this emission. Never before has a climate conference attracted so much popular and political attention. So dominated is Copenhagen by the COP 15 conference that it's been nicknamed Copenhagen. Salim al-Huk from Bangladesh is an expert on the complex manoeuvres that are bound within global climate politics. He works for the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development. I've been working on climate change now for maybe a decade and a half. I started in the mid-90s looking at the impacts of climate change in Bangladesh initially and then other developing countries and then I got involved in the UNFCC process and I've been coming to the COP for quite a number of years now. The conferences and parties over the years have evolved enormously and more and more civil society journalists, media are coming, a lot more government delegates now come a days. So it has become a huge event and it's the first time this time it's going to be a summit-level meeting with heads of state here. The government of Denmark in 2007 offered to host the historic COP and the Minister for Climate and Energy, Connie Heathergort, has put a lot of time and effort into making it a success. The time has come to set the right course for our world while we still can. A climate conference is a maze of simultaneous parallel meetings and negotiations on complex technical issues. The very demanding task of keeping track of the numerous working groups and plenary meetings and their decisions is the responsibility of the host country. In particular, it is the responsibility of the COP President, Connie Heathergort and the UN climate body, UNFCCC. Some of it happens in the formal meetings, in the big group meetings when they discuss things in the plenary, but much of it happens behind closed doors in the back rooms between key players, key individuals, key organizations, key countries who speak on behalf of different groups. The UNFCCC for all its fault is the most transparent process that we have, and that's the one that most of the negotiators, particularly from the developing countries, want to stick with. It's a democratic system where one country, one vote. We are happy with that because our vote is as strong as the American vote, despite our limited capacities and capabilities. In a sense, this is a game that is being played between the countries, and the players are 192 countries around the world. But this is one of the very, very few forums, if not the only forum, where the weak players who have very few cards to play with have a chance to play with the big players, with the powerful players. The weak players have a card, their card is, they can say no. Right from day one, all possible ploys are being used to attract attention. One of the proven methods is to call frequent press conferences, and Bangladesh uses this strategy after only a few hours on the very first day. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries of the world, and we want to flag it high so that our concerns are known to everybody, all the parties. That is one of our main, say, reason to hold press conferences. More than 20,000 representatives of a wide range of NGOs from all over the world have registered to attend the COP. For some of them, it's their very first climate conference. Tanjeer Hussain from Bangladesh works on projects aimed at helping some of the most vulnerable people in the coastal areas of Bangladesh to adapt to climate change. We're here to raise our voice to, you know, fight for the fair deal for climate justice. The atmosphere is really good. A lot of people came in, NGOs, INGOs, business people. They're all, I think they're all working on the same issue for the government to make a deal, legal binding deal. And just look into the camera, right? Yeah. The NGOs are doing their utmost to put pressure on the negotiators, and particularly through the world media, who have a massive presence here, including the developing countries. I'm a journalist from Kenya, and I'm here to cover everything as it happens, right from the first day to the last day. And I expect leaders to come up with very serious commitments from here. My audience don't really know much about COP, about the UN climate talks, and about what is going on with the, with the technical thing. So my, my duty here is to let them know what is going on and how Vietnam benefits. Negotiations at the conference follow a timetable or roadmap adopted at the COP 13 in Bali in 2007. According to the roadmap, negotiations follow two tracks. One is the Kyoto track named after the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. Here, the developed countries, with glaring exception of the USA, committed to legally binding targets for their CO2 emission reductions by the year 2012. Now, reduction targets for the period after 2012 have to be agreed and committed to. In the other track, the convention track, negotiations focus mainly on longer term reduction targets of all countries. This includes the USA and the developing countries, which hadn't committed to reducing their CO2 emissions in the previous Kyoto Protocol. Amongst them are the poor developing countries, but also some global giants like India, Brazil and China. Several countries, in particular some of the wealthy ones, wish to merge the two tracks into one, but most developing countries oppose this. Their concern is that the rich want to back down from the legally binding reduction targets of the Kyoto Protocol. This split causes the first big drama of COP 15. On day two of the conference, the British newspaper The Guardian publishes an article, which is immediately referred to as the Danish text. It is a draft Copenhagen agreement drawn up by the Danish presidency. But developing countries feel left out, since only the powerful and rich countries were consulted on the text. They are also unhappy that the text does not mention the Kyoto Protocol. Well, I would describe it as an attempt by the Danish Prime Minister, Mr Rasmussen, to try and preempt the outcome of Copenhagen by consulting with a few heads of government around the world and talk to them to try and get them to agree to something in Copenhagen. We are quite disappointed by the process. What we heard coming actually from the press yesterday, it was that the presidency was preparing a paper. With whom? For what? Where? We don't know. Why is my country, one of the poorest in Latin America, investing on tickets on plane and on accommodation here that I have to say is quite expensive for believing in standards? Why are we investing if we are not part of the real discussion? The spokesman for the group of developing countries, the G77 plus China, Stanislaus Lumumba from Sudan, is amongst the sharpest of critics of this Danish text. The Danish texts, let me say texts, seek to secure 60% of the global atmospheric space to 20% of the world's wealthiest nations. What it says is that the Prime Minister of Denmark is desperate for success at any price. The Danish text incident is a blow to the confidence many developing countries had in the Danish COP presidency, and they feel even further marginalised when four big developing countries put forward their own draft text. The most vulnerable countries, particularly the least developed countries group, are highly confused. The Danish text that was prepared did not consult them. Even the basic text that the Chinese prepared was not consulted with the least developed countries. So there are very clear concerns from the most vulnerable countries that they are being left out of all these other processes, which is why they want everything to be done in the open where they can actually participate. The Danes have lost the control over the situation and anything can happen. So, let us see. The Bellar Center is not the only stage for the climate conference. Some 100,000 demonstrators have come to the Danish capital to put the negotiators and politicians under even further pressure. Inside the Bellar Center, the numerous meetings of the various technical working groups continue. At the same time, a sense of realism or resignation is gradually replacing the euphoria that marked the opening of the COP 15, particularly among the representatives of the developing countries. The first day, we wrote that everyone is talking about Bangladesh. The second day, I wrote, everybody is talking about Bangladesh, but nobody is listening to Bangladesh. I haven't found that anybody is talking about Bangladesh, or small islands, or the most vulnerable countries. They are talking about themselves. They are sitting bilateral and trilateral and close to a meeting So, this is not going to be the conference of fairness. At the COP, there is the principle of one country, one vote. But individual countries have very different resources to support their vote. This is clearly illustrated by the delegation offices at the Bellar Center. At the top end is the very impressive and well-equipped pavilion of the U.S. delegation. But several countries do not even have their own delegation office at the COP at all. When they need to meet and make plans, they literally have to find some vacant seats in a corner, or in the canteen. And with so many parallel meetings taking place, it's even more difficult for small delegations to participate fully. Only today, we have 24 meetings in four months and eight four months. If you are a small delegation, you cannot cover all these processes. And of course, big delegations can. Us, where our survival is dependent, we have few. And the process in itself is quite difficult to follow and riddle against us. It's very, very difficult for us to cover all things going on in here. We try to find out every day what's going on in the country. We try to find out every day what is going on in the COP by attending press conferences, by talking with the international experts, with the Vietnam delegates. On day three of the COP, the Danish text is formally withdrawn. But the small island state of Tuvalu creates a new drama. Okay, Tuvalu, you ask for the floor. The procedure you have proposed is not a conclusion that we agree with. Tuvalu is one of the first countries that will be engulfed by the sea if global warming is not stopped. Therefore, we have great difficulty and we cannot support your proposals. Okay, listen everybody, I would now like to suspend the meeting for 10 minutes. Tuvalu not only wants to keep the Kyoto protocol, but also proposes a new Copenhagen protocol with binding CO2 reduction targets for all countries. Tuvalu's proposal immediately receives the full support of many of the developing countries and NGOs. But several rich countries, as well as the larger and powerful developing countries, oppose the proposal. The proposal reveals emerging splits between smaller and larger developing countries. But it also causes procedural problems. The confusion and lack of results are no surprise to veteran climate negotiators. This is normally the case that there's a state of confusion at some point in the first one week, but it will all come together towards the end of the week. If it doesn't come together, it will all come together towards the beginning of next week, and my prayer is that it doesn't break up, that we get some agreement with the Herzog state next week. To injustice! No! No! Hey, you! Who are sitting there making decisions? The world is waiting for a real agreement. It's the message to the world! It's a change! Civil society leaders and activists in their thousands take to the streets of Copenhagen and several other cities all over the world during the weekend to increase the pressure on negotiators and politicians. And the message from the demonstrators is clear. We want climate justice! We are actually asking for the rich countries to pay their debt. So being an activist, it's really good. I think I'm playing at least reaching the community, the poor people's voice over here. That's what I'm trying to do. Watching you, you know what to do. A group of NGO representatives gather each morning at a hotel in Copenhagen together with Salim al-Huk to plan their tactics for the day. He's looking in the eye, and you go like that. One week into the COP, and with only five days left, the feeling is that time is running out. Negotiations don't look very good. I feel that the level of political commitment now needs to be geared up considerably. We had two years. This is not the beginning. This is something that we were supposed to finish in Copenhagen when we decided it two years ago in Bali. Not postpone again our negotiation. In the Bella Centre, the level of negotiations is raised. During the first week of the COP, it was the government officials who negotiated. Now the ministers take over, and they are disappointed with the lack of progress. The progress is not according to our expectations. Actually, the negotiation is not easy. And we have been employing our time and effort and energy for the last two years to achieve something here in Copenhagen. Gentlemen, we need the room. So please proceed outside right now. Just one minute. The first week of the COP has not only had a troublesome ride, it has also seen new alliances emerge. But there are new splits appearing as well. There are the rich and powerful. They are in annex one. They are named. We know who they are. But there are now another group of powerful, like China, India. These are big countries. They are powerful countries. And then there are the rest, the poor and the vulnerable. What we are seeing here is the power play between these three groups. The rich are talking to the powerful. And they between them are trying to come up with an agreement. Neither of those two groups have the interest of the poor and vulnerable in their hearts. Bolivia is one of the smaller countries feeling marginalized and left out of important meetings. We as Bolivia even don't know where they are taking place. We don't know who were invited. We should all be part of the process. Because what everybody is very worried is that time goes on and suddenly a couple of countries will meet and they will say, hey, this is the document. There is not only dissatisfaction with the closed meetings that are not actually a part of the official COP 15 program. There is also criticism of the lack of tabled meetings within the official conference program. On Monday of the second week of the COP, the African countries have had enough. They strongly criticize that meetings scheduled for discussions on the Kyoto Protocol issues have been dropped. We want to begin to work a little more and bring the Kyoto Protocol negotiations to the same level where the long-term cooperative action under the Bali Action Plan is. Because as it is now, the negotiations on Kyoto, almost for two days, have not gone anywhere. The African countries announce a boycott of the negotiations. They are protesting against the lack of meetings scheduled by the presidency for the Kyoto track working groups. There is no movement at all with regard to the second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. And we want that that should start now. This has been made clear to the president of the COP and she is now digesting that suggestion from this morning. Bolivia, I would like to present a proposal for amendment for the Kyoto Protocol pursuant to its order. What is happening is that the countries, annex one countries that are part of Kyoto are wanting to jump ship. So they want to let the Kyoto side disappear and all come on to the USA side of this. With voluntary commitments, that would be an extremely retrograde step. I mean that's what the framework convention was. In 1992, they voluntarily agreed to reduce their emissions to 1990 levels. They have violated that promise many, many times over. To go back to that kind of voluntary promise is signing our own death warrant. We will all perish with leaders like this. We are still not there when it comes to commitments. And I would also say that one should not underestimate the complicated but though very important issue. The boycott by the African countries works. Late Monday, COP President Connie Heathergott promises to hold informal discussions on the crunch issues under both negotiating tracks. Tuesday afternoon sees the opening ceremony for the high level part of the conference. It is now that the key players, the heads of state and governments, take to the stage. Despite the frustrations experienced by the negotiators, official speakers appear optimistic. Your presence reflects an unprecedented political determination to combat climate change. We have a chance, a real chance, here and now to change the course of our history. We are all accountable not only for what we do, also for what we fail to do. Let the world remember Copenhagen as the place where good intentions were turned into good action. The place where it all started. Thank you. Wednesday sees a change of atmosphere at the Bella Centre. The huge influx of attendees forces the organisers to limit the number of NGO representatives allowed to attend. It's a shame really that we won't be able to come and hear exactly what they are talking about. NGO representatives inside the Bella Centre demonstrate as a protest against the restrictions. And outside, demonstrators launch a final and well-organised show of solidarity. They try to force access to the Bella Centre to put even further pressure on the negotiators to reach an agreement. The activists' attempts to enter the centre are not successful. Security has been upscaled to an extent that it is felt even by the high-level negotiators. Wednesday and the high-level negotiations formally open as Danish Prime Minister Lars Løker Rasmussen takes over from Conny Heathergott as COP President. It gives me great pleasure to declare open the joint high-level segment of the Conference of the Parties. The Danish presidency announces plans to put forward new draft texts in an attempt to make the negotiations between the heads of state and governments easier. The crisis in climate negotiations all day has been waiting for the Danish Prime Minister to make an announcement, but it hasn't come yet. When you expect us to come with a request for a text that can be handled, if it's not circulated, it will be circulated just a little bit. This is part and dream process. You can't just put forward some text from the sky. The criticism puts the Prime Minister and Chairman under extreme pressure. The world is expecting us to reach some kind of agreement concerning climate change and not just continuing discussing procedure, procedure, procedure. Where is China? China, for a final remark before we move forward. I think the matter is not just procedure, procedure, procedure. Actually, it's a very serious issue, it's a substance. It's the respect of the host for the 192 parties. Thank you. I think then we should move forward now. I really urge you to accept that we now start the list of speakers. It is not at all easy to come up with proposals for compromises to help negotiations move forward. That is the experience not only of the Danish presidency, but also of Miliz Zanawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He is the Chief Political Negotiator of Africa and puts forward a proposal he has worked out together with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. The proposal includes providing funds for adaptation to climate change for developing countries. And $100 billion per annum by 2020. But most African countries immediately denounce this Franco-Ethiopian proposal. They are particularly unhappy that the proposal only secures $10 billion a year in fast-track financing for the developing countries to adapt to climate change. It was a decision that the Prime Minister of Ethiopia took that wasn't necessarily shared with the African position. It deviated from the African common position and therefore the other ministers, presidents and heads of state, have talked to him. And it becomes an Ethiopian position and not the African position. The atmosphere at the Bella Center remained tense even as world leaders arrived here. I put my stories on YouTube and everybody is so pissed off with Zanawi. Everybody thinks Zanawi is a big sellout. We believe that Ethiopia, in every little sense, is sleeping with the developed nations. Pamla, Ziggy, MTV, Copenhagen. In China, there is a simple word, make everybody rich. They don't talk about alleviation of poverty. Atik Rahman from Bangladesh is a veteran observer of the climate scheme. He thinks that an offer of more money could have created the much needed progress in the negotiations. But the rich countries have not come up with the proposals needed. When they say there is no money, this is total false. When the Wall Street collapses and the thieves of Wall Street steal away the money and the incompetent bankers take away, cannot manage their banks. Total mismanagement, trillions of dollars flow. So when the rich are affected, there is money. When the poor are affected and affected by the rich, there is no money. Now that is the game which is unfair, immoral, unacceptable. What we need is not negotiations, what we need is political will. And the people who need to exhibit that political will are in town now. They need to finish the job while they are in Copenhagen. They don't have anybody else to refer to except if they want to refer to God. On Thursday, the Danish Prime Minister openly admits that he has not been able to gather all the players of the climate game behind a deal. At 11 o'clock, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Lycke Rasmussen, has thrown out his handkerchief in the ring. He gave the Danish Prime Minister a summary of the climate deal. And at 13 o'clock, the Queen of the Rings goes there to get the partnership back. As the high-level section continues with national statements from the 190-plus countries, the hard negotiating has now moved away from the open discussions. In several locations in and around the Bella Centre, the key executives crisscross between a series of close meetings in an attempt to find some level of agreement. Bangladesh is one of the developing countries allowed in behind these closed doors. Bangladesh is trying to play the role of catalyst in bringing all the parties to an agreement. And if we go back to our countries, all the leaders, if go back to their countries, respective countries, empty-handed, that will create deep frustration among the people of their countries and as a whole in the globe. That we cannot afford. So we must achieve something here. The negotiators work through the night, but there is still no agreement on the morning of Friday. The day President Obama is due to arrive. The day of the biggest ever gathering of world leaders outside of New York. It is also the last scheduled day of the COP. But whether negotiators will manage to reach an agreement today or even whether there will be any agreement at this COP is still very uncertain. Right now it's an atmosphere of Tel Aviv. That's it. That's life. It looks like we won't get the optimal, but something will come out. But it is a shame because so much hype attended this meeting and expectations were very high. I don't think those expectations will be met. Last night a number of the heads of state were here. A small group of them met and tried to salvage something. I hear that they might have some draft which has not been revealed yet. We still have to hear President Obama. Perhaps he will have something to contribute. So we have a few more hours left for them to try to salvage something out of a very bad situation. The Bella Center is silent as Barack Obama enters and makes his speech. I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now. And it hangs in the balance. We are ready to get this done today. But there has to be movement on all sides. And with courage and faith, I believe that we can meet our responsibilities to our people and the future of our planet. Thank you very much. The applause following Obama's speech is polite, but it does not raise the roof. Nor does the speech become the turning point that many had hoped for. I must say I'm very disappointed. I had very high expectations of President Obama. I know he makes great speeches and that he's an inspiring leader. But he did not inspire. He did not make a good speech. It was all about what we knew America was already prepared to do and it was all highly conditional on others doing it. Bolivia and several other countries are very upset when a small group of the world's top leaders, led by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, enter into private negotiations. In some place in this building, I don't know, 20, 25 countries are discussing what's going to be the outcome of this conference. That's really unacceptable. You cannot call the president to come here and only invite just a group of them, a small group of them, to write what is going to be the conclusion of this event. We do not believe that poor countries in 21st century should be given solution and not allowed to participate in designing those solutions. But even behind closed doors it takes time and only on Friday night is an agreement reached on a deal that becomes known as the Copenhagen Accord. It is not announced by the Danish presidency nor the UNFCCC but by President Obama at an impromptu press conference on his way to the airport. I worked throughout the day with Prime Minister Melis of Ethiopia, who was representing Africa, as well as Premier Wen of China, Prime Minister Singh of India, President Lula of Brazil and President Zuma of South Africa to achieve what I believe will be an important milestone. As soon as news of the Accord is out, it meets with heavy criticism. Even Bangladesh, one of the developing countries participating in the closed door negotiations, is unhappy. The outcome is not that happy one, but we are at the receiving end. We are not in a position to have a great deal over here in Copenhagen, so we have to be satisfied with this Accord. The Copenhagen Accord is currently just an agreement struck by some 20-plus countries. Saturday at five in the morning, the now exhausted negotiators convene at the COP plenary to make a formal decision on the Accord. Mr President, I urge you to seek the guidance of this conference and make this a COP decision. Is there anyone who will oppose this? One, two, three, four. Venezuela, please. There is simply no consensus about this document. We are not going to recognize it. We don't want to discuss it. Mr President, our future is not for sale. If you sign up, this will actually come into power. Yeah, I realize that. But I think at some stage or another perhaps it will be okay if I could speak just a few single words. Negotiations reach a complete deadlock, and the Danish Prime Minister leaves the Beller Center. A few hours later, the plenary reconvenes, and the successor of last local Rasmussen asks participants to take note of not to adopt the Copenhagen Accord. And they finally agree to this at 10.30 Saturday morning. It is so decided. I think it is a very disappointing outcome, that's for sure. What has happened is that the US and China have made a deal. We won't ask each other to do very much. We won't ask you to do anything, and you don't ask us to do anything, and neither of us do anything. And we keep polluting the atmosphere and carry on as usual. That's the deal that has been worked out between them.