PROPERTY ARTICLES

"NOW is the time for common sense, compromise and courage: Common sense, compromise and courage. Political courage, political wisdom and political leadership should prevail. And, this afternoon, let me add, conscience."..

... Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary General.

"In a way, the climate change negotiations are about a lot more than merely addressing climate change issues. They are test cases as to how humanity is likely to face the emerging challenges of the 21st Century. As globalisation transforms the world into a single and tightly integrated economic space, how we manage global public goods such as the environment without a world government is likely to become defining moment of our new century.

"If, through foresight, dialogue and compromise we succeed in addressing the threat of climate change, I would be reasonable. If we fail to rise above the current challenge of climate change, we will then have proved that global economic progress is based on a fundamentally dysfunctional political system. Sooner or later the economic edifice we have built will have to come crashing"

... Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, on behalf of the Africa Group.

"Elsewhere in the world, commentators may be inclined to refer to climate change crisis as an existential threat. For us in Africa, it is the beginning of the Apocalypse that must be averted. Millennium Development Goals which were hardly on track now stand the risk of being completely de-railed unless the numbers are re-appraised in the context of more imaginative resources. Our degraded soil arising from climate change is certain to encourage the perpetual company of hunger and poverty unless a major intervention which can only come from outside Africa takes place.

"Let us not be under any illusion here; Copenhagen is not about Them versus Us; it is about a new humanity, finally realising that it faces the grim prospects of its own extinction if like the dinosaurs of climate change crisis of another age it fails to change its ways. There is no time to lose. By the middle of this century more than a billion people would be victims of water shortages and hunger including 600 million in Africa alone."

... Chief Ojo Madueke, Minister of Foreign Affairs and head, Nigerian Delegation.

"The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is very clear with regard to equity and the responsibilities of different actors."

"In our context, 'Equity' means an approach that is fair, with reasonable actions by all countries. This approach must reflect the significant differences in capacity between countries to respond to climate change, their historic and projected emissions, and heir vulnerability to climate change impacts."

... Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya.

"Beneath the tip of the well intentioned rhetoric on climate change lies the iceberg of power and aspirations to global dominance. We are dealing with vested interests. We are dealing with dominant economies resting on a faulty, eco-unfriendly development paradigm, aspiring to misrule the world.

Climate change, the latest and by far the most encompassing an insistent crisis spawn by this hegemonic development paradigm, yet again reveals their interconnectedness of issues of global imbalances; by way of uneven development; by way of unclean politics; by way of hegemonic values; and, by ay of arbitrary power and governance systems."

... Robert Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

"We have seen that developed country Parties to the Kyoto Protocol seek to dismantle the protocol in favor of a 'single undertaking,' allegedly comprehensive but, which is in reality much weaker and will effectively undermine and reinterpret the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.

"For the sake of the well being of our planet and its people, the Group of 77 and China insists that a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol must be established beyond 2012 as the basis for comparable emission reduction commitments among all developed country parties. We will oppose an agreement which, in any way results in the Kyoto Protocol being superseded or made redundant. The second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol is a minimum requirement for the Group, without which agreement in Copenhagen will not be possible."

... Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie, head of delegation of the Republic of Sudan, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

"The question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. This is not a perfect agreement, and no country would get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and who think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. And there are those advanced nations who think that developing countries cannot absorb this assistance, or that the world's fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.

"We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years. But here is the bottom line: we can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, and continue to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be a part of an historic endeavor - one that makes life better for our children and grandchildren.

"Or we can again choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year - all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible. There is no time to waste."

... United States President Barack Obama.

"At this very moment, billions of people across the world are following closely what is happening here in Copenhagen. The will that we express and the commitments that we make here should help push forward mankind's historical process of combating climate change. Standing at this podium, I am deeply aware of the heavy responsibility."

"Climate change is a major global challenge. It is the common mission of the entire mankind to curb global warming and save our planet. It is incumbent upon all of us, each and every country, nation, enterprise and individual to act, and act now in response to this challenge."

... Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council of the People's Republic of China

"It is clear that any agreement on climate change should respect the need for development and growth in developing countries. Equitable burden sharing should underlie any effective global climate change regime. Any new regime will have moral authority and credibility only if it acknowledges that every citizen of the globe has an equal entitlement to the global atmospheric space."

... Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.

"At the first UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Sweden in 1972,India's Prime Minister Indira Ghandi raised the question: 'Are not poverty and need the greatest polluters?' Mrs Ghandi confronted the world with the fact that poverty is both a mjor cause and consequence o environmental degradation.

"The world has come a long was since 1972, but we have not been able to respond to that challenge. We can not tackle hunger, disease and poverty unless we also provide people with a healthy ecosystem where economies can grow. Hunger, disease and poverty will never be defeated I a world where global warming goes above two degrees Celsius.

"Science is clear - global greenhouse gas emissions have to peak and decrease, promptly and decisively. This has to be done whilst lifting billions of people out of poverty."

... Sweden, speaking on behalf of the European Union and its member states.

"We must take a significant step forward in our common goal to tackle climate change and it's impact, particularly on the poorest and most vulnerable economies. And I stress 'common action.' Our deal must enable us collectively to do much more on mitigation than each of us has been able to achieve individually. It must provide a robust framework for transparency and comparability."

... Jose Manuel Baroso, President of the European Commission.

"To address the gaping sorrows of the left-out millions in Africa, the torment of our island states, the fear gripping the planet's most vulnerable communities, and the urgent need to reduce rates of deforestation, we must commit to additionality in our support, so that we do not force a choice between meeting the needs of the planet and meeting the millennium development goals. For people rightly say: if we can provide the finance to save our banks from the bankers, we can, with the right financial support, save the planet from those forces that would destroy it.

Friends I do not ask my country or any country to suspend its national interest but to advance it more intelligently. For nothing matters more to any nation's interest than the fate of the only world we have.

"To the developed world I say also: environmental action is the most powerful engine of job creation in an economy urgently in need of millions of new job; to the developing world I say: the technology now exists to gain the dividends of a high growth economy without incurring the damage of a high carbon economy; and to all nations I say: it is not enough for us to do the least we can get away with, when history asks that we demand the most of ourselves.

... Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Britain.

"Money is not everything. Money put on the table is a payment for emissions done for two centuries, so it is not a bargain between those who have and those who do not have money. It is a commitment needed, as scientists are saying that climate change is irreversible. Those who have money therefore need to protect those who are in the need. In some countries, three square meals a day is something achieved a log time ago, but in my country, for so many people, three square meals a day is still something of the future. So, it is not only climate change we are discussing, we have to discuss development and opportunities for all.

"The issue is not only the money. Some people think only funds or money would solve the problems. It did not solve the problems, it will not solve the problems of the present and will not solve the problems for the future.

... President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil

"We must act now, because there are millions of people depending on us t provide them with the assurances that their hoes, their livelihoods, their communities, and their countries will not be swept away in the king wave of climate change.

"They are depending on us to provide assurances hat life dependent ecosystems and ecosystem goods and services are preserved for this and future generations. They are depending on us to act to protect the planet.

"We must a t now, because some of us in he small island states have no choice, for many of our states are already experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change; we must act now because if we don't, history would not absolve us."

... Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States.

"The world is watching. It is time to take collective action and put our names to these legally binding agreements. I did not come from right across the other side of the world to sign on to mere COP decisions or a hollow political agreement. We are not here to window dress a failure. We are here to sign the dotted lines, nothing less."

... Apisia Ielemia, Prime Minister of Tuvalu.

"A comprehensive solution requires a brand new leadership, one with vision and actions that transcend the narrow pursuit of self interest and places the good of mankind ahead of one's domestic agenda; a new brand of leadership that places a premium on equity and survivability of Small Island States ahead of political and economic expediencies; a brand of leadership with the strength and conviction to lead by doing, because it is morally correct and proper to do so, not because it is conditional on actions by others. Otherwise, we are effectively assigning those Small Island States least responsible for the causes of climate change and without the means to mitigate and adapt to its impacts to an uncertain and unsustainable future."

... Tuila'Epa Lupesoliai Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa.

"We are experiencing the very real impacts of climate change and paying a vey real price. The World Bank estimates that I will cost up to $100 billion per year for adaptation in developing countries. Yet here in Copenhagen, we have been offered only $10 billion, how realistic is this?

"We have been asked to compromise; the Republic of Nauru is a single island - just 21 square kilometers in size. How much of our island should we compromise? We are trapped, with the Pacific Ocean surrounding us on all sides. Sea levels are rising and we have nowhere else to go to. But there is one thing I cannot compromise, and that is my commitment to my people."

... Marcus Stephen, President of the Republic of Nauru.

"Copenhagen has been an abject failure. Justice has not been done. By delaying action, rich countries have condemned millions of the world's poorest people to hunger, suffering and loss of life as climate change accelerates. The blame for this disastrous outcome is squarely on the developed nations.

"We are disgusted by the failure of rich countries to commit to emissions reductions they know are needed, especially the United States, which is the world's largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases. In contrast, African nations, China and others in the developing world deserve praise for their progressive positions and constructive approach. Major developing countries cannot be blamed for the failure of rich industrialised countries."

... Nnimmo Bassey, Chair of Friends Of The Earth International.