THE NEXT 24 hours will be “absolutely crucial” if world leaders are to sign a deal aimed at tackling global warming, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said last night as the Copenhagen climate negotiations continued behind closed doors.
Mr de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Covention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), told a press briefing he still believed it was possible to achieve a success but that today’s talks involving some 115 political heads of state and government would be critical.
“There are a number of issues that need to be resolved at ministerial level or higher,” he said, adding that these were the big issues relating to greenhouse gas emissions cuts, financial aid for developing countries and the level of protection for forests as carbon sinks.
Earlier, it was announced that Danish climate and energy minister Connie Hedegaard, who had been presiding at the conference since it started on December 7th, was being replaced by Denmark’s prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen is among those travelling to Copenhagen today for the final two days of the summit.
In a statement last night, Mr Cowen described climate change as “a real and serious threat to life on Earth”, and said that “global problems, like climate change, require global responses”.
A proposed new text circulated by the Danish presidency had still not been published last night and seemed to have been withdrawn, because of objections raised by the G77 group of 134 developing countries, who saw it as unbalanced.
Mr de Boer’s statement came late on a fractious day at the Bella convention centre when Danish police fired tear gas and arrested an estimated 260 people in their efforts to disperse a demonstration involving some 3,000 climate justice activists.
With the UNFCCC and its Danish hosts coming under fire for what was described as a “shambolic” organisation, there were also a series of mass walk-outs and sit-down protests from environmental organisations, which disrupted some of the day’s proceedings.
The protests took place after observers, including the entire Friends of the Earth contingent, were refused access because of overcrowding problems at the venue – some 45,000 people were registered for a venue with a capacity of only 15,000.
Other environmental activists protested against a “lack of transparency” in the negotiating process, saying they were entitled to be there as representatives of civil society who had kept climate change on the international political agenda.
“We’ve got an important role to play,” said Molly Walsh, of Friends of the Earth, Ireland. “We’re bringing people’s voices to negotiations. We should be part of an open, democratic, transparent process. We’re here to push governments to implement climate justice.”
In the context of the ongoing negotiations, Mr de Boer’s optimistic assessment of the prospect for success was not shared by all European leaders – particularly after the US delegation repeatedly objected to elements of the official negotiating texts.
Minister for the Environment John Gormley openly criticised the Americans, saying he was “sick” of their tactics.
European Commission president José Manuel Barroso appeared at a joint press briefing with the president of the African Union, Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi, following a “very constructive” meeting between an EU delegation – led by Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt – and the African Union.
British prime minister Gordon Brown, who was one of the first leaders to arrive here, said it may not be possible to reach a deal.
In a BBC interview, he said the obstacles remaining were “huge” – although he still believed they were not insurmountable.
At the open plenary session, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez made an impassioned speech blaming “the selfishness of consumers in the richest countries” for causing climate change, and their “lack of solidarity with those who are hungry, who are poor and are most in need”.