COP17 conference ‘won’t be easy’

Minister Nkoana-Mashabane. Picture: Jacoline Prinsloo

Minister Nkoana-Mashabane. Picture: Jacoline Prinsloo

Published Oct 10, 2011

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Johannesburg - The upcoming United Nations Climate Change conference COP17 will not be an easy meeting, International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said on Saturday.

“Ordinary people that suffer daily from the impacts of climate change...have high expectations from their leaders,” she said at the 50-day countdown in Soshanguve near Pretoria.

She described the conference as a complicated “party-driven” process where 194 member states were expected to engage and reach a consensus.

“We have appealed to parties to arrive at COP17 with the willingness to compromise and yield from their current positions.

“...Otherwise there could be a breakdown in negotiations with serious ramifications of achieving progress on climate change through a multilateral approach.”

She said climate change had become the most pressing sustainable development issue and its effects were felt in agriculture, food security, housing and health.

COP 17 will be held in Durban from November 28 to December 9.

The conference was expected to attract 20,000 delegates. - Sapa

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