For the record, the United Nations global climate conference, the biggest in the history of   mankind for the cause of the environment, witnessed the participation of over 130 heads of government and states from around the world, where everyone initially commented that the important summit that took place after two years of preparation must not fail.

However, the series of negotiations and discussions proved that the division between the developed (Western) and developing (Eastern) countries remained intact. The diverse and arrogant opinions from America with some other European nations and the subsequent counter attacks by the representatives from China, India and other developing countries were in media headlines for almost two weeks.

The rich countries which are responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions expressed their readiness to reduce their carbon use. However, at the same time, they want to compel the developing countries like India to reduce the use of carbon to a greater extent.

The repeated opposition and adjournment of the meetings delayed the acceptance of the resolutions. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change summit, which was supposed to be concluded by December 18 night, continued till the next evening. In fact, US President Barack Obama planned to return home soon after the agreement signed in Copenhagen but he had to stay for a longer period in the city to continue pursuing an agreement with different government heads. Even our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh got delayed because of the continued discussion.

Finally Obama initiated a break for the conference, where he convinced BASIC countries namely India, China, Brazil and South Africa to give approval for a kind of agreement.

An hour-long meeting among the US President with the Indian Prime Minister, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brazilian President Lula Da Silva and South African President Jacob Zuma resulted in a US-BASIC deal, where all parties agreed to take appropriate action to prevent global warming exceeding the level of 2 degrees Celsius.

Moreover, all the government heads of BASIC and the US agreed to $30 billion as aid to the poor and developing nations in the next three years. It has also agreed to support the US proposed global fund of $100 billion a year by 2020.

However, not everyone was happy with the deal. Opposing the initiative, various other developing nations  argued that they could not ‘accept a text originally agreed by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa as the blueprint of a wider United Nations plan’ to fight climate change.

It was primarily opposed by Cuba, Sudan, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela, Tuvalu, Costa Rica etc. Even the host country showed reservation to the deal. The Danish Prime Minister and also COP15 president Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that he was not in favour of the proposal.

However Japan, Norway, African nations with the European Union nations came out with support for the proposal. The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed the deal as a beginning which was acceptable to him. He admitted that ‘it was not an easy task’ and asserted that the Copenhagen climate deal offers hope. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also agreed to the proposal but said she expected more.

The Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh expressed happiness that a good deal for the entire developing world was resolved the Copenhagen summit.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon termed the exercise as an important beginning. He admitted that it was not satisfactory to a number of delegates as the deal ‘may not be everything everyone had hoped for’. But he firmly commented that finally, “We have a deal in Copenhagen, which has an immediate operational effect.”

Amazingly, the summit which started on December 7 was on the verge of collapse by the second week. Amidst many factors, the continued loggerheads between the United States and China emerged as a major cause of concern. On the other hand, the imposing attitude of the host country to formulate a declaration ignoring the poor and developed nations also plunged the summit into its worst phase.

Jairam Ramesh, who was there for many days, strongly protested against the Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen for refusing to explain a draft political declaration that was to be discussed in the meeting of environment ministers. Ramesh made it clear that various procedures were made with less trust on the developing nations like India. However, he said that India wanted to make the summit a success.

Then came the important declaration from the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, where she revealed that Washington would help to build a 100 billion dollar annual fund by 2020, to bail out the poor countries coping with the impacts of climate change. But she didn’t forget to criticize China because of its rigid attempts to defy the verification of emission cuts by the international agents. Hillary Clinton claimed that an agreement in the summit might be impossible if China, which is the second biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world (after the US), doesn’t show transparency.

Later, of course, the distance between America and China was narrowed down after Washington declared initiatives of raising 100 billion dollars a year in the coming days for the benefit of poor nations.

At the same time, the poor countries like Bangladesh and Burma which are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change are demanding some bail - out packages from the developed countries.

Bangladesh came out with the campaign that the people displaced due to climate change should be recognised as refugees. Talking to media persons, the representatives of Dhaka argued that the world communities must think about the displaced people because of the adverse climatic conditions. “We are a densely populated country and hundreds of thousands of poor Bangladeshis still live in islands and costal areas. They become innocent victims of climate change as they are no way linked to the phenomena,” said Bangladesh’s Environment and Forest Minister Hassan Mahmud.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made an appeal to the developed countries asking for 1.5 per cent of their annual growth for an adaptation corpus fund. Addressing the summit, Hasina stated that Bangladesh expects justice from the international communities.

“We are here with a dream to protect our mother earth and the human race,” she reiterated. Hasina even lobbied with the US President Obama as they talked over the phone before coming to Copenhagen. Obama had reportedly assured Hasina that Washington would stand beside Bangladesh at the time of crisis.

After his arrival in the Danish capital, President Obama met a number of influential world leaders before gracing the preliminary high level event. Lots of expectations were aired with Obama’s arrival as a prime mover of the summit to finalize a concrete climate deal.

But contrary to the expectations, Obama disappointed the world leaders. In fact, while Obama was proceeding to speak in meeting in the main auditorium of Bella Center, everyone was expecting some significant declarations from him.

Obama while urging all the participating countries to compromise on key demands in order to seal an international accord in Copenhagen, didn’t commit any further actions beyond Hillary Clinton’s one (100 billion dollar global fund). He only said that America had charted their course and they have made commitments. “We will do what we say,” Obama asserted.

Soon after Obama, Manmohan Singh addressed the gathering, but serious differences were observed in their point of views. Unlike Obama, Dr Singh appealed to the developed countries to deliver the guidelines of the Kyoto Protocol. He insisted on continuing the protocol and argued that ‘any new global accord announced at Copenhagen would go against international opinion if it dilutes the Kyoto Protocol’. He advocated continued negotiations till 2010 for a globally acceptable climate agreement.

Dr Singh also disclosed that India would deliver on its voluntary target to reduce the emission intensity of GDP growth by around 20 per cent by 2020 as compared to 2005. Moreover, initiatives would be taken to curb the gas emission irrespective of a deal in Copenhagen, he said. The Prime Minister also informed the world leaders that New Delhi had planned to generate 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022 and is also going to improve forest cover in the next few years.

The African nations also advocated the extension of the Kyoto Protocol which is expiring in the next two years. Addressing the summit, the Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win also supported the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol. He claimed that Burma was one of the most climate affected countries in the globe. Cyclone Nargis which hit southern Burma in May 2008 killed over 85,000 people and left nearly 54,000 people missing.

The high level segment of the conference, which was inaugurated on December 15, witnessed the participation of high profile personalities like the Prince of Wales. The UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon addressed the gathering and appealed to all the country heads and representatives to opt for a comprehensive, ambitious and effective international climate change deal.

The UN Chief, while urging the environment ministers from different countries to compromise in the final days of discussions as various factors apprehended a failed summit, concluded his remark with the positive note, “Our future begins today here in Copenhagen.”

Prince Charles of Britain, in his brief speech advocated a safer planet for the next generation and hence emphasised on an accepted and  sustainable approach by all the concerned. The Prince termed the summit as historic. “I can only appeal to you to listen to the cries of those who are already suffering from the impact of climate change. The eyes of the world are upon you and it is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future,” Prince Charles added.

The distinguished gathering was also addressed by the host Prime Minister Rasmussen, who pointed out that the effect of climate change knows no boundaries and it doesn’t discriminate one from the other. “The magnitude of the challenge before us is to translate this political will into a strong political approach,” he concluded.

In fact, the continued hectic discussions among the climate negotiators from different countries, never ending protest and demonstrations carried out by various activists and unbelievable busyness of the environment non-government organisation workers inside and outside the historic Bella Center, the main venue of the summit remained as important media highlights for many days.

The Danish government expected around 15,000 delegates for the summit, but to their utter shock, over 40,000 delegates including a huge number of journalists from both the print and visual media (also web) turned up. Though it was a difficult and painful task for the organisers to get them registered promptly, they however, provided thousands of laptops with high speed internet connections in the media centre.

The conference as usual witnessed a series of protests outside the venue. Hundreds of protesters braved the cold weather to demonstrate in front of Bella Center demanding that the responsible leaders finalise an accord in Copenhagen. The Danish police used everything from batons to tear gas to disperse the protesters and maintained the normalcy during the important summit.

Nava Thakuria

at Copenhagen