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Source: Reuters -
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A gavel has sounded the end of the Copenhagen climate change talks and now New Zealand and the rest of the world is waiting to hear what happens next.
Although some recommendations were agreed upon, no legally binding treaty to limit carbon emissions was reached.
A climate change action camp near Wellington is focused on keeping the world sustainable.
Climate change activist Leaf Burrows says there are already signs of approaching danger.
"I think it's going to get a lot worse in the years to come," Burrows says.
The group has been keeping a keen eye on the climate talks in Copenhagen and some are calling the outcome rubbish.
Climate change activist Gary Cranston says he thinks things are going backwards.
"I think it's about time people need to step in and do something about this," he says.
While the clean-up is underway in Copenhagen, the international critics are growing louder.
The meeting noted a US deal with five other countries to help cut carbon emissions, but the legally-binding worldwide treaty many were after never came.
Lumumba Di-Aping, G77 chief negotiator, says it is evident the deal does nothing.
"It does nothing because people think their economic interests are more important than anything else," he says.
A usually upbeat United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has also showed only a glimmer of hope.
"It will take more than this to definitely tackle climate change, but it is a step in the right direction," he says.
Back home in the US, President Barack Obama says the key to change is what we do next.
"We're going to have to build on the momentum that we have established in Copenhagen to ensure that international action to significantly reduce carbon emissions is sustained," Obama says.
But time is running out for some countries such as Tuvalu where rising seas threaten to drown it out of existence.
Terrence O'Brien, former New Zealand diplomat and ambassador to the United Nations, says any kind of global agreement may take a while.
"It's kept the show on the road, no more than that, they reached no legal understandings," he says.
But some will not wait for the world leaders to act.
