Climate Gridlock Frustrating Envoys at UN Talks in Doha

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-30/climate-effort-lacking-ambition-frustrates-envoys-at-un-talks.html

International efforts to curb global warming are moving so slowly that that delegates from both rich nations and poorer ones are expressing frustration with the process.

“I don’t see as much public interest for governments to take on more ambitious and more courageous decisions,” Christiana Figueres, the diplomat organizing two weeks of United Nations climate-change talks in Doha, said at a briefing yesterday. “Each one of us needs to assume responsibility. It’s not just about national governments. It’s about individuals. It’s about civil society.”

Her comments were echoed by delegates at the 190-nation talks from the European Union to Swaziland and Switzerland, underscoring concerns that this year’s round of discussions will make little progress toward the goal of protecting the environment from fossil-fuel emissions.

“We’ve achieved nothing this week, and I’m very concerned,” Bolivian delegation chief Rene Orellana said in an interview. “We’re fried.”