The Climate Change Conference 2011, held from November 28 to December 9 in Durban, South Africa, has finished with an agreement that came after a marathon session of negotiations.
It will help tackle the challenges of climate change for years to come, the United Nations' chief said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the decision reached by parties of the Climate Change Convention in Durban, South Africa, which agreed to extend efforts set forth in the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol, ratified by 37 industrialized countries, was set to expire in 2012. It mandates that industrialized nations cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
Ban "welcomes the agreement to establish a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol that will increase certainty for the carbon market and provides additional incentives for new investments in technology and the infrastructure necessary to fight climate change," according to a statement from his office.
As part of a broad pact, nations will agree in some sort of a legal format to curb their carbon emissions. The talks also launched the Green Climate Fund, which would essentially channel about $100 billion by 2020 to vulnerable countries to hel
p them deal with the effects of climate change.
For the first time there is an agreement to negotiate a legal accord of some sort, a legal instrument that is applicable to all countries - this is a new thing. That means China, India and Brazil are, for the first time, included.
The paradigm of negotiation was changed, so that it applies to all the big emitters, because the problem cannot be solved if you have 50-60% of world emissions not at the table.
It was an extraordinarily complex negotiation with a lot of moving parts. Up until the last minute, there was every reason to think that it could well have fallen apart. So, the fact that it came together is in of itself a success, even if the outcome doesn't really fully satisfy anyone.
"The Adventist church welcomes this agreement and supports all efforts to 'work together, in order to save tomorrow, today'", declared SDA Euro-Africa Division President, Bruno Vertallier. "God created the planet to be managed by human beings wisely and responsibly. We have to respect and love the planet earth, gift from God to humanity. We cannot destroy our wonderful global 'garden'", Vertallier added.
