COP21

COP21 and French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius was full of optimism Monday when he described the week ahead as ‘The Week of Hope’

“It is my hope that this Week of Hope will be completed with a universal treaty. We hope to reach a consensus and I will use my conviction and determination to bring this to bear, said Fabius while addressing the Joint High Level segment that will kick-start the ministerial negotiation.

“It drives me crazy when people talk about 30 years from now, rising sea levels and so on,” he told the Guardian in an interview at the Paris COP21 cli

“I totally emphathise with their claims. For them it’s a matter of life and survival. Any increase beyond 1.5 or 2 degrees will significantly threaten their island nations.

“They are asking for 1.5 degrees limit to global temperature rise as a reference point, said Fabius, who is also France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In his daily briefing to the media, Minister Fabius confirmed that two negotiating texts were submitted by the co-chairs and facilitators of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP) on Friday morning.

The new agreement on 11 December could be the most important and significant achievement of any climate summits since Kyoto in 1997.

For the Pacific and other Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean, apart from having an agreement that is 'ambitious, legally binding', they are also pushing for the inclusion of 'loss and damage' as a stand-alone chapter.

Population increase at care centers worries authorities

An increase in population at the Manam Islanders care centres in Madang means the demand on food and water will be high.

http://www.looppng.com/content/population-increase-care-centers-worries-authorities

Minister angry over Manus contracts news report

A coalition of 130 groups including 350.org said on Monday evening they would “implement all our efforts to hold all the mobilizations current planned”.

That is at odds with France’s Prime Minister Manuel Valls’ remarks that events outside the core negotiations would “undoubtedly be cancelled”.

President Francois Hollande has declared a state of emergency in response to the country’s worst loss of life since the Second World War.

Sopoaga says critically important aspects of addressing climate change have been pushed out, eroded or “drowned out” by the agenda of developed countries and he is committed to ensuring that they are given attention ahead of, and during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) meeting in Paris later this month. 

“Human rights have been largely ignored in the climate change discourse but it has to be an integral part of, and be in the centre of discussions,” says Sopoaga.

"We had hoped to have some flexibility regarding increased media accreditation for COP21; however, due to overwhelming demand and now facing tighter security in light of recent events, we are sorry to inform you that your application has been declined," the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's press office said in an e-mail sent to journalists today.

 It also advises reporters not to visit the Le Bourget conference center, in northeast Paris, unless they are accredited.

Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga wants this message relayed to the French Prime Minister through their ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga and Tuvalu, Michel Djokovic.

He made the comment at the signing of a maritime boundary agreement for Fiji, France and Tuvalu.

"We're signing at this moment on the eve of the world coming to Paris to try and conclude a legally binding agreement.

The problem is that the pledges made by countries ahead of the COP21 talks on how they would reduce their emissions  “do not add up to 2 degrees,” said Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Two degrees above pre-industrial temperatures has been agreed by countries as a threshold beyond which climate change risks become unacceptably high.