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Country has 'key role' on climate

By Sun Xiaohua (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-02 09:52

The two-week UN conference on climate change in Poland will not only be given an insight into China's active role in negotiations, but also a better understanding of what the country is doing in the fight against global warming.

Li Yan, of the Greenpeace Beijing office, told China Daily from Poznan yesterday: "China is playing an increasingly leading role among developing countries, especially in trying to get funds and the transfer of technology to fight climate change."

The forum of the 192-member UN Framework Convention on Climate Change follows on from initiatives launched by the international community in Bali a year ago.

The aim is to forge a new global treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of next year that will be the most ambitious and complex environmental deal ever seen, Li said.

Proposals put forward by members of the Group of 77 developing countries and China last month that funding from developed countries should equate to 1 percent of their GDP will likely be discussed at the conference, he said.

Wu Changhua, director of the environmental organization in greater China for The Climate Group, said: "As China is playing a leading role in combating climate change, it is eager to be understood by the international community."

For the first time, the Chinese delegation will hold a night event on Monday at the conference to showcase its efforts in countering climate change.

Delegates to the conference will study an 82-page document containing a range of differing and complex proposals for long-term cooperative action.

By the end of the talks on Dec 12, it is hoped that this will have been condensed into a workable blueprint for negotiations culminating in a deal in Copenhagen.

Scientists have warned that failure to take action on a worldwide basis will inflict irreparable damage.