No climate deal yet in sight

The high level segment of Copenhagen climate change summit started yesterday as the negotiators were struggling to close the gap and reach an agreement.
Observers and negotiators said no significant progress has been achieved in emission cuts and feared the situation would remain the same until the end of the summit.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has arrived at Copenhagen at 12:50 local time (6:50 pm BD) yesterday to attend the ongoing UN climate change conference.
Hasina along with 27 heads of government deliver her speech at the summit in between 9pm and 12am Bangladesh time.
The talks resumed on Monday on two parallel tracks -- new target under Kyoto Protocol and under long-term cooperative actions against climate change.
The negotiators were trying to make up some lost time by running some sessions into the late night on Monday.
“Some progresses have been achieved in adaptation fund. Now everybody is trying to decide how much,” said Dr Saleemul Haq, chief of the climate change cell, International Institute of Environment and Development, who is observing the COP very closely.
“The developed countries want to start from 10 billion from next year but the developing countries are demanding much more and asking for a long-term commitment,” he said.
“Now the ministers have become the negotiators. They are talking to each other formally and informally and some outcome may come from there,” said Saleemul.
He said it seems at this stage of the negotiations that the heads of state could be agreed on only the adaptation fund here in Copenhagen as the minimum success.
“I think something will happen about the adaptation fund,” he said.
But it is hard to reach an agreement on emission cuts as developed nations, emerging economy like China and India have disappointed scientists and poorer nations facing damaging climate change.
They say by 2020 greenhouse gases must be reduced by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 level. That would keep temperature rise in the less dangerous range of 2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
India and China are saying reducing carbon is the historic responsibility of the developed nations as they are the responsible major emissions and thus global warming.
At this stage of the progress UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, “If everything is left to leaders to resolve at the last minute, we risk having a weak deal or no deal at all.”
Yov de Boer, the UNFCCC executive secretary, in his daily briefing yesterday said that the progress of talks is really slow.
We have seen number of progress in last one week. But we have not seen enough progress this week, he added.
Meanwhile, Nasheed Mohammed, president of Maldives, yesterday delivered his speech at the plenary session in the afternoon where he said that all have to come forward to save the world.
RK Pachauri, the chairman of IPCC, the UN body of the scientists, supported the positions of LDCs and most vulnerable countries.
On Friday more than 120 heads of government are expected to join the summit's final session.