The world turned here in Bali today as the conference booed and jeered US attempts to block a successful outcome.
The world was watching the politicians in Bali during the UN Climate Change Conference.
Having spent the two weeks of the meeting swinging a wrecking
ball through the talks, with the able assistance of friends like
Canada, Japan and Russia and complicit silence of Australia and New
Zealand the Bush Administration went one step too far.
Developing countries had agreed to take measurable, verifiable
and reportable action, linked to action by the USA who refused to
accept the package, until the room erupted.
There were harsh words from many country delegates including
Papua New Guinea who advised the US to exercise leadership or get
out of the way, at which point the US delegation caved and
US tactics have weakened agreement
However, despite these dramatic events the entire Bali Mandate
is weaker because of their tactics and the strong science that
should be driving the process has been relegated to a footnote in
one of the key documents.
There was some agreement reached on transferring clean
technology to the developing world and providing money for those
countries already suffering from the effects of climate change.
But reducing emissions from deforestation, a key driver of
climate change, still has a long way to go, and a loophole remains
that may allow some industrialised countries to swap binding
targets for voluntary goals.
World must keep watching
The next round of negotiations is now well and truly underway
but nobody can afford to take their eye off the ball over the next
two years. Some governments here have given less than their best
and it is up to all of us to keep the pressure up for a strong
second phase of Kyoto and real action on climate change.
We will be keeping up the pressure with our actions on climate
change. Here's a map of some of our climate actions over the last
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