Contested climate deal under fire

[FarCenter]

Climate campaigners and several developing countries have slammed the so-called "Copenhagen Accord" supported by US President Barack Obama, raising doubts whether it would gain approval in the 194-nation plenary session.

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AFP - A core group of world leaders clinched a draft accord for rolling back climate change after gruelling talks in Copenhagen, but campaigners early Saturday branded the new-born deal a betrayal.

US President Barack Obama said an "unprecedented breakthrough" had been reached among day-long meetings involving about two dozen presidents and prime ministers gathered in Copenhagen.

Obama admitted the so-called Copenhagen Accord did not go far enough, but characterised its provisions as "meaningful," arguing they provided a tool for ratcheting up action on greenhouse gases.

Copenhagen's Bella Center crackled with nervous tension, exhaustion and confusion as leaders raced from one closed-doors huddle to another, arguing over legalistic chunks of text in an extraordinary game of climate poker.

Negotiators were grey-faced after more than 12 days of battling over text, and over-stressed journalists became feral in their quest for information.

Yet as the conference lurched into its 13th day, it was still unclear whether the much-trumpeted deal had a future.

It still had to gain approval from a plenary session here of the 194 members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

They include African countries and small island nations most at risk from the warmer Earth's temperatures that bring rising sea levels and the risk of more droughts, storms and floods.

"Today's events really represent the worst developments in climate change negotiations in history," said Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping of Sudan, chairing the Group of 77 and China bloc of 130 poor nations.

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The agreement was met with dismay by campaigners, who said it was weak, non-binding and sold out the poor.

"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," said Nnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International, calling the outcome "an abject failure".

"The blame for this disastrous outcome is squarely on the developed nations."

Antonio Hill of Oxfam charged: "It can't even be called a deal. It has no deadline for an agreement in 2010 and there is no certainty that it will be a legally binding agreement."

"The so-called Copenhagen accord is an historic failure, representing the collapse of international efforts to sign a binding global treaty that can stop catastrophic climate change," said the US group Avaaz.org.

"The accord is far from fair, barely binding, and absolutely unambitious."

Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said: "The city of Copenhagen is a climate crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women fleeing to the airport in shame.

"World leaders had a once in a generation chance to change the world for good, to avert catastrophic climate change. In the end they produced a poor deal full of loopholes big enough to fly Air Force One through."