14 DAY TRIAL // A large number of world leaders, from 194 United Nations countries, gathered today in the Danish capital Copenhagen for the last planned day of the 2009 Climate Summit. Though there was a lot of big talk before and during the meetings, and high representatives expressed their faith in the success of the negotiations, it now seems highly unlikely that nations will agree on a protocol to follow come 2012. There is still a rift between developing nations and the developed world, regarding a large number of issues, the BBC News reports.
One of the problems is that rich countries want a new agreement to be signed, whereas the other parties push for the extension of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which they say already has all the necessary mechanisms in place. Countries also can't agree on the levels of their mandatory emission cuts, or on which states should emit less pollution. Poor nations are also asking for an international fund to be set up, from which they could draw money to halt the effects of climate change and global warming on their people. Island nations are particularly keen on this point.
According to delegates the BBC has had a chance to interview, the discussions at this point are “confusing” and “desperate.” During overnight discussions, conference attendants dismissed a draft proposal typed by a small group of countries, which also included the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. One of the main complaints of the developing world was that it got the feeling it was being treated high-handedly by the West and the host country of Denmark.
“It is very confusing, and developing countries are very disappointed because they've invested a lot of time in the documents they're negotiating here – the Kyoto Protocol discussions have been going on for four years. Now this other thing comes to undermine it, and people feel their time has been wasted. One country I spoke with told me 'we've been played;' but I don't think it's so easy to do that any more,” Martin Khor says. He is the executive director of the Geneva-based think-tank South Center.
“Only the heads of state can bring this summit to a successful conclusion. They are the only hope we have, but the summit as of this morning is a summit in crisis,” UN Environment Program (UNEP) Director Achim Steiner concludes.