By DPA,
Cancun (Mexico): World governments Saturday approved a compromise deal that helps tackle the growing threat of climate change and sets the stage for a global climate treaty some time in the future.
The approval of a deal at a UN summit in Cancun, Mexico, includes a package of measures to help poor countries confront warming and comes one year after the widely viewed failure of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
“Confidence is back. Hope has returned,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon told the gathering after the deal was approved. The summit in Cancun had ushered in “a new era of cooperation in the context of climate change”.
Yet the deal was approved over the fierce objections of Bolivia, which said the compromise was too weak to confront global warming. Bolivia said the agreement’s approval marked a violation of UN rules, which required all 194 members of the summit to back a deal.
“We clearly stated and would now like to reiterate that we are opposed to this decision and we feel that there is no consensus for its approval,” said Pablo Salon, the head of Bolivia’s delegation.
Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa, who chaired the summit, ignored Bolivia’s pleas and approved the deal, but the exchange marred what should have been a happier moment after nearly two weeks of tough negotiations between governments in Cancun.
The agreement included compromise language on major divides over the future of the Kyoto Protocol and how to tackle greenhouse gas emissions that had threatened to derail the conference entirely.
It also created a Green Climate Fund and set up new mechanisms to help countries adapt to the impacts of global warming, curb deforestation and boost technology cooperation.