Russia’s Medvedev laments ‘modest results’ of UN climate conference

AK-BULAK HOTEL (Almaty region) December 19 (RIA Novosti)

The UN climate conference in Copenhagen has produced little tangible
results, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday.

Speaking at an informal meeting with his counterparts from post-Soviet
states, he said: "There are results, but they are rather modest."

"A last-minute statement was adopted, reflecting the views of
different countries on how to work further to improve the
environmental situation on the planet and prevent adverse impacts on
the climate."

The leaders of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan met in a place near Almaty to discuss
security and economic integration.

The climate summit in Copenhagen adopted a final document. Russian
delegation member Oleg Shamanov noted difficulties in agreeing the
text during plenary sessions on Friday, saying that a number of
countries had accused the group drawing up the document as doing so
"secretly" without their participation. He said group was created
openly and that all members at the summit could participate.

Alexei Kokorin, a representative from the World Wildlife Fund of
Russia, said four countries in particular were obstructing the
acceptance of the document: Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. He
said the countries were accusing other countries of not considering
their opinions while preparing the political declaration.

According to Kokorin, the obstruction by the four countries was not
entirely related to the conference’s issues on climate and ecology,
but more of a desire "to annoy the U.S.," in particular U.S. President
Barack Obama, who was an active participant in creating the political
declaration for the summit.

The 15th UN climate change conference December 7-18 was the result of
two years of international talks on a binding treaty to cut global
carbon emissions. The talks brought together about 15,000 participants
from 192 countries.

Scientists have warned that the emissions cuts so far offered at the
summit would fail to prevent a catastrophic rise in temperatures.

The Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding agreement restricting carbon
emissions, expires in 2012. A new deal is needed to continue efforts
beyond 2012.

The United States did not sign the original Kyoto Protocol.