World leaders to focus on climate change talks in French capital
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STILL gripped by shock and grief, Paris will play host to a long-awaited UN climate conference next week under tragic circumstances that none could have foreseen.
But delegates to the two-week talks which start on Monday say they won’t let the November 13 attacks in the French capital distract them from the task at hand: crafting a landmark deal to fight global warming.
If anything, some say, the bloodshed could make countries more determined to reach a deal to address a problem that’s widely seen as a factor that contributes to conflict.
“There may be even more awareness of how important it is to address climate change, given the impact of climate change on the stability of countries,” said Dutch climate envoy Michel Rentenaar.
The French organizers say more than 140 leaders, including presidents Xi Jinping of China, Barack Obama of the US and Russia’s Vladimir Putin have confirmed they’re attending the start of the conference.
The stepped-up security measures in Paris — a state of emergency throughout France has been extended for three months — mean that shuttling them around the city will be a major logistics challenge.
Citing security concerns, French authorities have canceled several events due to take place outside the conference center, including a march that environmentalists had planned for tomorrow.
The negotiations, however, are set to go ahead amid tight security at a conference center in Le Bourget, north of Paris.
Seyni Nafo, spokesman for the African group of countries in the climate talks, said “the main variable” is whether French President Francois Hollande can find the time and energy to devote himself fully to the climate talks, given his focus on terrorism and security.
“Other than this I suspect the talks will remain mostly on course,” Nafo said.
Hollande notably maintained all his climate-related appointments last week, including a meeting with some African leaders on Tuesday and a speech to French farmers on Thursday.
He is due to attend a France-Oceania summit on Thursday, a meeting with non-governmental groups following the climate negotiations on Saturday, and meetings with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Xi on Sunday.
The goal of the Paris conference is for governments to adopt a deal that for the first time would require all countries to take action to fight climate change.
Countries on the front line, such as small island states that could vanish amid rising seas, were worried that the Paris attacks would become a distraction for Western countries in particular. However, they’ve been reassured by the number of leaders, including Obama, who quickly reaffirmed their plans to attend the UN conference, said Jeffrey Waheed, the Maldives’ deputy permanent secretary to the United Nations.
“The fact that this is on the forefront of everyone’s mind is a positive sign,” Waheed said. “World leaders are used to handling multiple issues.”
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