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	Poor nations urge deep climate cuts by BBC / Reuters & agencies Spain   Nov. 2009   The last formal negotiations before the global summit on climate change in Copenhagen concluded in acrimony today, with developing countries threatening to walk out of the December conference unless rich countries commit themselves to far greater cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.   While the countries remain officially optimistic that a strong global warming treaty can be struck, they are privately braced for a weak outcome which heads of state will sign, but the public and scientists will condemn as much too little to prevent catastrophic global warming.   "Little progress was made on the key issues of emission targets and finance that would allow developing countries to limit their emissions and adapt to climate change," said Yvo de Boer, the UN director of the talks. "Without these two pieces of the puzzle in place we will not have a deal. Leadership at the highest level is now required to unlock the pieces".   The 130 developing countries represented by the G77 group said today they would walk out of Copenhagen if rich countries did not offer far deeper emission cuts and more money. "If there are no ambitious targets and timetables in the first few days then there will definitely be a reaction," said Lumumba Di-Aping, chair of the G77.   "We need a figure from the US. It is very important for a deal to have the biggest emitter there with a concrete figure which should be legally binding," said Anders Torrson, the Swedish chief negotiator.   "A US target is essential. If the US can deliver that target [in Copenhagen] that will give a critical signal," said de Boer.   NGOs said there was everything still to play for. "This is the darkest hour. There is enough time. Consensus is not forming around a weak deal. That is only wishful thinking by industrialised countries. Developing countries are fighting for their survival," said Greenpeace climate director Martin Kaiser.   "The EU countries should be prepared to cut themselves loose from the US or risk losing a climate deal. World leaders cannot wait while the US plays catch-up. Rich countries are using the US as an excuse to put their national interests above alleviating the suffering of the millions of people," said Antonio Hill, climate adviser for Oxfam.   In a series of impassioned speeches, poor countries accused the US and EU of putting the talks and planet at risk. "They are negotiating for themselves and not humanity," said Angelica Navarro, Bolivian ambassador to Switzerland. "They must go beyond the individual interests of each country and put the interests of the world first."   Poor nations say that even the most ambitious offers by the European Union, tougher than most nations, were too weak for a new U.N. climate pact.   "The result of that is to condemn developing countries to a total destruction of their livelihoods, their economies. Their land, their forests will all be destroyed. And for what purpose?" said Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping of Sudan, chair of the Group of 77 and China, representing poor nations.   "Anything south of 40% means that Africa"s population, Africa"s land mass is offered destruction," he told the news conference.   Developing countries at the Barcelona talks insisted that rich nations should cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.   So far, developed nations are planning cuts averaging between 11 and 15 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels to slow climate change that scientists say will lead to more droughts, floods, rising sea levels, more powerful cyclones and a spread of disease.   Sudan"s Di-Aping said "in real and absolute terms the effort is minimal." He said rich nations spent billions of dollars on solving the financial crisis or on defense.   The United States is the only nation outside the existing Kyoto Protocol for curbing industrialized nations emissions to 2012 and the Senate is debating a bill that would cut emissions by about 7 percent below 1990 levels.   A panel of U.N. climate scientists said in 2007 that emissions by developed nations would have to be cut by between 25 and 40 percent by 2020 to avoid the worst of global warming.   According to the Head of Climate Change at the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development, Saleemul Huq, the African boycott "leaves Africa in a much stronger position. So far Africa has not been recognized in the talks at all," he said to the Guardian.   "It"s a moral stance, it points out the difference between a good and a bad deal. A good deal is defined by what is good for the planet. Africa will feel the consequences most of a bad deal,” said Huq. "If you are an African country you have much more at stake than a rich country".   Nov. 2009   Earth ''heading for 6C'' of warming. (BBC News)   Fossil fuel emissions are rising with GDP, particularly in developing countries.   Average temperatures across the world are on course to rise by up to 6C without urgent action to curb CO2 emissions, according a new analysis.   Emissions rose by 29% between 2000 and 2008, says the Global Carbon Project. All of that growth came in developing countries, but a quarter of it came through production of goods for consumption in industrialised nations.   The study comes against a backdrop of mixed messages on the chances of a new deal at next month''s UN climate summit.   According to lead scientist Corinne Le Quere, the new findings should add urgency to the political discussions.   "Based on our knowledge of recent trends and the time it takes to change energy infrastructure, I think that the Copenhagen conference next month is our last chance to stabilise at 2C in a smooth and organised way," she told BBC News.   "If the agreement is too weak or if the commitments are not respected, it''s not two and a half or three degrees that we will get, it''s five or six - that''s the path that we are on right now."   Professor Le Quere, is lead author on the study that is published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The Global Carbon Project (GCP) is a network of scientists in academic institutions around the world.I t uses just about every source of data available, from atmospheric observations to business inventories, to build up a detailed picture of carbon dioxide emissions, carbon sinks, and trends.   "The developed world has exported to the developing world the emissions it would have produced had it met its growing appetite for consumer goods itself for the last two decades," said CSIRO''s John Finnegan. "In one sense, the developed world owns a large fraction of the developing world''s emissions."
	Forced displacement must be included in Copenhagen Climate Agreement by Refugees International (RI)   As leaders gather to negotiate an agreement to address the impact of climate change, Refugees International urged them to make climate displacement a priority. Natural disasters, such as cyclones and droughts, have already forced millions of people from their homes.   It is clear that developing countries will need a great deal of support to prevent displacement and to provide shelter and other resources to displaced people. Refugees International is urging the gathered leaders to recognize this challenge while they negotiate a new agreement, and ensure that all parties to the agreement commit themselves to preventing displacement and meeting the needs of people displaced by climate change.   "In the coming decades the consequences of climate change threaten to forcibly displace people on a scale that will dwarf displacement due to persecution and conflict," said Joel Charny, acting president of Refugees International. "Leaders at the Copenhagen conference must guarantee that people uprooted by climate change will receive assistance while their safety and security is ensured."   In Barcelona this November, negotiating text was drafted that began to address displacement related to climate change. The language urges parties to undertake activities related to "internal and cross-border migration and displacement" and identify ways to "respond to the needs of affected populations" who are displaced by the effects of climate change. Refugees International urges negotiators to include and strengthen this language as they work towards a final comprehensive agreement.   Further, Refugees International believes that discussions need to begin now on the creation of an international legal framework that will protect people displaced across international borders by climate change who are not eligible for refugee status under the 1951 Refugee Convention.   There are currently 41.2 million people displaced by conflict. Estimates indicate that 50 million to 1 billion people will be displaced by climate change over the next 50 years.   The most immediate threats from climate change are in the form of storms of increasing intensity, such as Cyclone Nargis in Burma; greater incidence of drought and floods that make traditional livelihoods unsustainable; and increased conflicts over access to limited resources. The war in Darfur derives, in part, from conflict over scarce resources as the desert expands.   Other dramatic impacts are also predicted in the long term, such as the disappearance of island states like the Maldives. According to a recent joint study by the United Nation"s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, 20 million people were forced out of their homes in 2008 due to natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes and floods.   "Taking the time to discuss and prepare strategies now will help address the massive challenge that climate displacement will pose for us in the future," added Mr. Charny. "We should not sit back and wait for hundreds of thousands of people to be displaced when the next natural disaster strikes or the next conflict erupts over scarce resources."   * Refugees International advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises. Visit the related web page
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