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Archbishop Desmond Tutu delivers a speech on a stage in central Copenhagen - Source: Reuters -
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Environment ministers struggled to nudge forward climate talks
in Copenhagen, and police detained more than 250 protesters on a
second day of mass action.
Church leaders handed a petition with half a million signatures to
the United Nations and prayed for climate justice, while hundreds
of demonstrators marched through the city centre for a second day
to remind world leaders of the huge public pressure for a
successful deal at the December 7-18 talks.
"We are telling them: Hey you, you who are sitting there making the
decisions, the world is waiting for a real agreement," South
African Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a crowd
in the city centre.
The day after a huge demonstration flared into violence and
prompted the largest mass arrest in Danish history, police shut
down a small march they said had not been authorised, detaining
almost all who had joined it for disturbing the peace.
More than 90 ministers had met informally, on their day off from
official negotiations between 190 nations, to try to break an
impasse between rich and poor over who is responsible for emissions
cuts, how deep they should be, and who should pay.
There was a positive atmosphere, but the talks apparently achieved
little beyond a consensus that time is running out.
"Everyone realises the urgency of what we are undertaking but we
need to move faster," said British Energy Minister Ed
Miliband.
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said he had not
expected solutions on Sunday.
"We have defined to each other where our absolute limits are,"
he told reporters.
Countries like China and India say the industrialised world must
make bigger cuts in emissions and help poor nations to fund a shift
to greener growth and adapt to a warmer world.
Richer countries say the developing world's carbon emissions are
growing so fast it must sign up for curbs in emissions to prevent
dangerous levels of warming.
Summit adds to pressure
The talks will culminate in a summit on Thursday and Friday that US
President Barack Obama will attend, adding to the pressure on
negotiators to reach a deal.
The head of the Asian Development Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, warned
governments that failure to reach a climate deal in Copenhagen
could lead to a collapse of the carbon market, which would hit
efforts to deal with climate change.
Tutu handed a petition with over half a million signatures, calling
for a fair, effective and binding climate deal, to Yvo de Boer,
head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat.
De Boer told the crowd he hoped public pressure could persuade
leaders to set aside their concerns about the global economic
crisis and tackle the urgent threat of climate change.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, called for political
courage at a service in Copenhagen's cathedral, attended by Danish
royalty, which was followed by a bell ringing for the climate in
churches around the world.
"We have not yet been able to embrace the cost of the decisions we
know we must make ... but we have an obligation to future
generations," Williams told the congregation.
Police have released all but 13 of nearly 1,000 people detained
after a march on Saturday, a police spokesman said.
The demonstration by tens of thousands of people was largely
peaceful but violence erupted towards evening when demonstrators
smashed windows and set fire to cars.
Some of those detained said they were unfairly held and badly
treated by police, and the waves of new arrests angered activists
who said they were peacefully exercising their rights.
A witness saw no violence at the small anti-capitalist hit
production march.
"They're just trying to stifle any kind of protest and they are
mass arresting any demonstrators. Also today, there was nothing
going on and suddenly police started arresting people," said
protester Peter Boulo at Sunday's hit production march.
