DemocracyNow.org - As the U.N. Climate Change Conference opened in Durban last week, the Least Developed Countries group and the Alliance of Small Island States presented proposals saying a climate deal that covers all countries must be reached within a year. The drafts received support from the European Union, but not from other developed countries — including the United States — or from larger developing countries like India, China and Brazil. The 48-country Least Developed Countries bloc (LDCs) includes drought-prone states such as Ethiopia and Mali, countries with vulnerable coastal zones including Bangladesh and Tanzania, and countries especially vulnerable to melting glaciers as a result of global warming, like Himalayan mountain states Bhutan and Nepal. The Alliance of Small Island States or AOSIS has 39 members including many Pacific and Caribbean islands, some of which are very low-lying and heavily impacted by sea level rise.

Democracy Now! speaks to Dessima Williams, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, and to Pa Ousman Jarju, chair of the Least Developed Countries group. “The importance of this COP is that the agreements that have been reached in 2007 have not yet been fulfilled,” says Williams. “The most import negotiation that must be concluded here, if we are to remain true to what we did in the past, is the second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol, which encompasses rules and levels of greenhouse gas reduction for the major emitters historically ... The impacts on our countries and our Island States in particular, is intolerable. For water supply, food, health, the sea level rising will swallow up more of our islands.”

To watch the complete daily, independent news hour, read the transcript, download the podcast, and for more reports from the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durban, visit democracynow.org/tags/durban_climate_summit_2011

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