Day 12: Highlights from Poznan - Goodbye Poznan, Hello Copenhagen

World leaders and Ministers have now arrived in Poznan to sign off on progress made over the past two weeks by their government delegations.

In Poznan, The Wilderness Society delegation will be urging world leaders to take strong action to reduce logging and land clearing - as part of the global plan to tackle climate change.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong gave her first speech to a packed conference today, on behalf of the "Umbrella Group", a loose caucus of countries also including Canada, Japan, Russia, The United States, New Zealand, Ukraine and Iceland.

Penny Wong spoke briefly about the need for a resilient, durable, constructive outcome, but just days before the Rudd government promises to announce its 2020 emissions target. The speech was uninspiring and light on substance.

Ironically Wong spoke immediately following Mr Sylvester Quarless, Grenada's Minister for Environment, who spoke on behalf of the small island states. He made an emotional plea for global action on climate change, a plea that so far has fallen on deaf ears in the Umbrella Group.

World Leaders and Ministers arrived knowing that little progress has been made since the last meeting in Bali a year ago. The Poznan talks have been overshadowed by the incoming U.S President, lack of agreement and leadership by the EU and the global economic downturn.

However there is cause for considerable optimism that negotiations are often in this state half way through, and that many of the worst proposals especially for the world's forests have not yet been adopted.

On the broader front, a European poll run over the last few days revealed that 85% of Germans, 87% of Italians and 74% of Poles support leadership on climate change despite the economic downturn.

On top of that, in all three countries, far more people think climate action will help the economy than believe that it will hinder it.

As governments gave their concluding speeches on the final day, Tuvalu gave a plea to the world for its most basic human rights - the right to exist as a country and not be submerged under sea level rise and the inaction that has charactersied the Poznan talks.

There has been much talk of the need for leadership at these negotiations - 2009 must be the year talk becomes action on climate change.

 
Check out our regular 'Postcards from Poznan' for updates and progress on the climate change negotiations.

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