UN: Time Running Out For December Climate Pact
About 180 nations met for UN climate talks on Monday amid warnings that time was running out for them to reach agreement on a hugely complex pact, due for completion in Copenhagen at the end of the year.
– Time is running out, Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said, adding: – The challenge of this session is to narrow the text down. We have an enormous amount of ground to cover.
The result of the last conference in Bonn was a 300-page document with suggestions from the 192 negotiating countries.
The aim of this weeks meeting is to reduce the document to between 50 and 100 pages; this will then form the basis of discussions in Copenhagen. Despite the hundreds of pages of suggestions, solid commitments from UN member nations have not been forthcoming.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday of “incalculable” human suffering if the world fails to reach a deal at crucial climate change talks this December.
– As we move toward Copenhagen in December, we must seal a climate change deal that secures our common future, Ban told an environmental forum.
Ban said unchecked climate change would intensify drought, floods and other natural disasters and bring water shortages and malnutrition – aggravating tensions and social unrest and even sparking violence.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
