There was a break in the leaders' speeches.
I went to a side-event from ICLEI, now chaired by an old friend from BC, David Cadman. In a discussion of local cities initiative, Sir Nicholas Stern opened. He pointed out that at current rates of emissions, continuing and shooting past 2015, we would not be able to avoid 5 degrees celsuis averge global temperature increase...making the planet as hot as it was 30 million years ago....when no humans lived here.
Hard to keep up. Right now it is the Pres of Micronesia as climate crisis is a threat to existence.
I ask your help to save my people. I ask your help to save our planet. We are not here by accident, we are here for a purpose, let us seal the deal...
Maldives: PM Nasheed. This is the "end game" in more ways than one. Negotiations have been fraught, time consuming and difficult....I am still optimistic that we can still leave this meeting with a planet-saving deal. As of now, we have discovered the text we negotiated all night is now not agreed upon. We will have no text to share with the leaders. For us this is more than just another meeting. This is a matter of life and death. Any GHG above 350 ppm, and temperature higher than 1.5 degrees is not acceptable. If we go over that, it will submerge our nation, turn our oceans to acid,-- you cannot imagine I could agree with the idea that 350 is impossible. If it were, we would be saying, saving our countries is impossible. We must ensure that GHG levels peak and start dropping by 2015.
It is not carbon we want, but development. Not coal that we want, but energy. Not oil that we want, but transportation. I urge China to take a lead. We urgently need to move forward. Giving us intensity targets that are close to business as usual is not acceptable.
The Maldives have pledged to be carbon neutral by 2020.
To the industrialized world ... you have the financing and the technology. Please make it available for others.
Climate has nothing to do with money. We have never taken aid from the EU countries. We have fended for ourselves. I want to be able to have grandchildren. It has nothing to do with money. Impressed with what some sub-national governments are doing, like California and Quebec.
We must come to an agreement. It is a matter of life and death.