Europe is taking a hardline negotiating stance at the UN climate talks, insisting that stiff conditions must be met by China and other developing countries if we want to arrange a global climate treaty.

An unlikely alliance of the usual developed country laggards – the US, Canada, Russia and Japan – and two of the largest emerging economies, China and India, could throw away the 2°C goal.

The world’s poorest communities have begun to experience extreme weather conditions outside the natural variability and cycles of African climate, and many regions are already at risk from sea level rise, drought, extreme floods, glaciers melting. The climate change hotspots in Africa need a rapid reduction in emission.

The Peruvian Amazon could become the global centre of ‘carbon piracy’. A report published at the UN climate talks in Durban warns that banks, conservationists and entrepreneurs are compelling illiterate communities  to sign agreements against their interests.

Two degree Celsius has become synonymous with “dangerous climate change”. Durban summit should accept this target and maybe set a more ambitious one: for some, such as the residents of low-lying islands, 2 °C is already not enough.

India is working with BASIC group (comprising Brazil, India, South Africa and China)  to foster its three agenda issues: equity, intellectual property on green technologies and unilateral trade barriers.

A coalition of civic leaders, elected officials, and labour, environmental and social activists launched a campaign call U. S. politicians to consider their “moral obligation” to address climate change.

The world’s 13 warmest years have all occurred during the past 15 years, and temperatures in 2011 are the 10th highest ever, the World Meteorological Organization declared at a meeting in Durban, South Africa, on Tuesday. The evaluation comes from the annual report of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The Kyoto protocol is in trouble and the media coverage of U.N. climate talks in Durban is minimal. What about the future of Kyoto protocol? What if Kyoto elapses and nothing happens?

Richard Ottinger, founder of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, is serving on the delegation for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In his first talk in Durban he speaks about  the low expectations for Durban.

Photo by UNclimatechange