What on earth ?

Stand up environmental specialists......., thought so. For those looking for some background to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, starting tomorrow in Copenhagen, look no further than the UN's official site or the UK's Daily Telegraph for its FAQ. Eleven days to save the world? No, more realisically, eleven days during which 192 nations and 100 visiting heads of state will try and thrash out a comprehensive international deal to tackle climate change; one more effective than the Kyoto Protocol. The conference aims to agree targetted cuts in carbon emissions, develop low carbon economies, forest protection and funding for climate change preparation. Emissions need to drop significantly by 2014 but to do so requires formal, legalised agreements and money, a thorny issue. Political understanding, compromise and commitment are going to be the watchwords over these coming days. The US has a big hand to play in this particular game of poker and it's going to be interesting to see how the more developed gas guzzling nations persuade the newly industrialised not to make the same mistakes of over reliance on fossil fuels, whilst cleaning up their own copybook. This would be to underestimate efforts already made by a number of BRIC countries. Away from the official sites and soundbites, Greenpeace is running its own daily information as is the lively site tcktcktck. Both were behind the ageing heads of states campaign placed throughout Copenhagen International Airport.