Climate talks begin mentioning global leaders’ duty
December 7, 2009
The global leaders have moral and material responsibilities to battle the dire consequences that many small islands and Bangladesh are facing, the chief of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said on Monday.
People from many small islands and Bangladesh are living in a threat to submerge due to sea level rise, Chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra Kumar Pachauri said while delivering his speech in the inaugural session of the United Nations Climate Change Summit.
The long-awaited United Nations Climate Change Summit has started with a vow to save the world in Copenhagen, Denmark where delegations from 192 countries have gathered to save the world by making a new deal to fight against the climate change perils.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen delivered welcome speech in the inaugural session while Maciej Nowicki, the president of COP 14 and environment minister of Poland announced the opening of the session.
“The World is rely on us. The differences can be overcome if the political willingness is present and I believe we will,” he said about reaching to an effective and equitable deal.
“Climate change knows no border. It does not discriminate any body and many have been already facing the dire consequences of climate change,” he said in his opening remarks.
Mayor of Copenhagen Ms Ritt Bjerregard, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of UNFCCC, and Connie Hedegaard, the president of COP 15 and Danish environment minister also spoke at the opening session.
Before the inaugural speeches, a documentary film titled ‘Please Help the World’ was shown to reveal the impacts of climate change all over the world.
More than 100 heads of states or governments — including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, US President Barack Obama, Premier Wen Jiabao of China, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the heads of the European Union (EU) — are set to attend a climax summit on December 18.
Earlier on the eve of the summit, the UN’s chief climate negotiator Yvo de Boer said at a press conference that the talks were in excellent shape and many countries are now making pledges over curbing carbon emission.
Further negotiations would take place in 2010 to fill in the details and — if all goes well — from the end of 2012, the new pact would take effect.
The inaugural session of two weeks long meeting started at 10:00am (4:00pm Bangladesh time).
Connie Haggard, the environment minister of Denmark and president of COP 15, chaired the session.
The Copenhagen city is all set to welcome over 15 thousands participants including government delegations, independent observers and journalists attending in the COP 15.
Thousand of participants across the world have already gathered in windy weather with 0 degree temperature of Copenhagen.
Source: thedailystar.net
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