Deal 'within reach' at UN climate talks

[joeblow]

Deal 'within reach' at UN climate talks
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:55:02 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=1 ... id=3510208



Protesters accuse industrialized countries, led by the US, over environmental destructions that have caused devastation in third world countries.

The long-awaited UN summit on climate change has formally opened in the Danish capital Copenhagen, where 192 nations will try to forge a pact on global warming.

The largest-ever climate talks, which some scientists consider to be the most important conference the world has ever seen will continue until December 18.

More than 100 heads of state and government, including US President Barack Obama, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have pledged to attend the gathering.

Opening the conference, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said the presence of so many leaders at the summit was "an opportunity the world cannot afford to miss", adding that a deal was "within our reach".

The conference held under the flag of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the offshoot of the famous 1992 Rio summit.

The marathon meeting is to look into curbing greenhouse gas emissions and drawing up a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The UN says an unprecedented number of countries have promised emissions cuts.

Rajendra Pachauri, who heads the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told the summit that action was needed action was needed to avoid more intense cyclones, heatwaves, floods, and possible loss of the Greenland ice sheet, which could mean a sea level rise of 7 meters over centuries.

Pachauri defended findings by his panel and criticized the "climategate" affair — the publication of emails from a British university last month which led skeptics to say that researchers had conspired to exaggerate the evidence.

"The internal consistency from multiple lines of evidence strongly supports the work of the scientific community, including those individuals singled out in these email exchanges," he said.

Outside the conference center, delegates walked past a slowly melting ice sculpture of a mermaid, modeled on the Danish fairy tale of The Little Mermaid, as a call for action, Reuters reported.

Over the past two years, negotiations over a new legally-binding treaty on cutting carbon emissions have dragged on without showing any breakthroughs.

The US and China, the world's biggest polluters, have thus far failed to back specific greenhouse gas reduction goals that scientists say are needed.

Environmentalists have warned that emissions commitments are dangerously short of what UN scientists say are needed to keep average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit).

Polar scientists have also foretold of an ice-free arctic summer within a period of 20 years, which will raise sea levels and harm wildlife.

Greenpeace activists are meanwhile planning to stage protests in Copenhagen and around the world on December 12 to encourage delegates to reach the strongest possible deal.

Some 56 newspapers in 45 countries published the same editorial on Monday, warning that climate change will "ravage our planet" unless world leaders take decisive action.

FF/TG/AKM