Welcome to our news hub for COP17 - UN Climate Conference in Durban (UNFCCC). We were tweeting, adding live reactions to events and blogging from here. COP17 is now over and we have summaries of reactions here.
As climate negotiations drew to a close at the COP17 in Durban, Harjeet Singh, ActionAid’s Climate Justice Coordinator says:
“COP17 did make a small step forward to save the climate but it failed to deliver practical support where it is needed most.
“It is disgraceful that a climate summit, held in Africa, delivered so little for Africans.
“Governments had an opportunity to not only tackle climate change, but also the climate driven food crisis sweeping across the continent. Instead they riddled negotiations with solutions which let off rich countries with weak targets for slashing emission and no climate cash commitments for poorer nations.
“The US should be ashamed that their actions at these negotiations effectively rendered the Green Climate Fund an empty vault.
“How pitiful that a ‘hard days work’ for US negotiators consisted of de-railing other countries efforts to meet their $100 billion a year promise.
“How many more years will poor people have to suffer for the failure of rich governments to do what’s right?”
