There is no plan B…If we do not realize plan A, we go straight to plan F, which stands for failure, says Thai Prime Minister.
Rie Jerichow 28/09/2009 11:55
Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, used the big words, when he addressed the delegates from about 190 countries at the start of marathon climate talks in Thailand today.

”Time is not just pressing. It has almost run out…but in two weeks real progress can be made toward the goals that world leaders have set for the negotiations to break deadlocks and to cooperate towards concrete progress,” he said, according to Reuters.

He reminded the delegates that the political winds are behind them and that the ”negotiating sails are set.” He urged the negotiators to ”pull up anchor and make full sail before we lose the tide and are left stranded on the beach, exposed to the coming storms.”

The Bangkok talks are the last major negotiating round before the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December that the United Nations has set as a deadline to reach a comprehensive global climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

Right now, the main text of about 180 pages is filled with blanks, options and alternative wording options. The Bangkok delegates’ first job is trying to streamline a draft legal text.

According to Reuters, Danish Minister for Energy and Climate and host of the UN climate conference in December Connie Hedegaard said that a picture was beginning to emerge from the puzzle of the climate text, but rapid progress was needed to refine it down to a document with clear political choices.

”We have a tremendous task before us,” Hedegaard said. ”You and I face great expectations from citizens around the world. They want action on climate change and they want it now. If we fail to act, we will face dire consequences,” she said, according to AP.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva expressed hope that the will and vision by all leaders at the New York summit last week would now guide the negotiators and concerned national officials on the road to Copenhagen.

”There is no plan B… If we do not realize plan A, we go straight to plan F, which stands for failure,” he said, according to a press release from the UN. (Photo of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Danish Minister for Energy and Climate Connie Hedegaard: Scanpix/Reuters)