Outraged African nations stall, resume climate talks
15 Dec 2009
UN climate negotiations at Copenhagen were suspended after developing countries staged a walk out in protest against a perceived attempt on the part of their Danish hosts to sideline talks on additional emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol.
The countries that suspended cooperation were from the G77-China bloc of nations and include wealthy as well as some of the poorest states in the world.
The G77-China bloc speaks for the interests of the developing countries in the climate change talks.
The poor nations have consistently demanded that rich nations continue to commit to emission cuts beyond 2012 under the Kyoto Protocol. while the EU and the developed world is pushing an entirely new agreement replacing the protocol.
Developing nations are concerned that under the new regime that the developed countries seek to foist, they would lose many of the gains that they made with the Kyoto Protocol signed in 1997.
They argue that the Kyoto Protocol is the only international legal agreement that has helped cut carbon emissions, and also been instrumental in enabling poor countries reap development benefits such as money for investment in clean energy projects.
