Hon Chairperson, the meeting that took place in Cancun over December last year was a continuation of the international climate change negotiations that have been going for over 15 years. During this period emissions in the world have actually increased, as the planet moves perilously closer to a 2 warmer world, the point at which scientists predict the climate will become dangerously destabilised.
Already we are starting to see the devastating effects of a warmer world, with natural disasters affecting the livelihoods of millions of people around the globe. It is therefore imperative that the international community finally finds the moral courage to face up to this challenge of our generation. And it is moral courage that is required, because at its heart climate change represents a massive global injustice in which the poor are being made to suffer because of the excesses of the rich.
Instead of their rising to this challenge, all I have seen at each of the COPs that I have attended is more sophisticated negotiating tactics being employed by powerful countries and interests, who are intent on evading their responsibilities. Our negotiators have done a sterling job at fighting these tactics, but unfortunately we seem to have spent all of our time on simply preventing the process from going backwards, rather than being able to push it to any kind of a progressive outcome.
After the failure of Copenhagen, the Cancun meeting was seen as a muted success. But let us be under no illusion - with the current state of negotiations, we are heading for a 3 to 4 warmer world and all the devastation that that will bring. These negotiations are also seriously eroding trust in the multilateral process, as some countries are going back on the agreement that was made in terms of the Bali Road Map in 2007.
I believe that the time has now come to draw a line in the sand. Progressive countries in both the industrialised and developing worlds need to unite and craft an agreement that is not held to ransom by lowest common denominator negotiations. We need to reach sufficient consensus on actions that are tangibly going to prevent the dangerous destabilisation of the world's climate. Those countries who do not wish to become part of the so- called "coalition of the willing" need to move out of the way and be exposed for their actions. The costs of not becoming part of this progressive coalition also need to be increased in various ways so as to pressure them into joining at a later stage.
As the hosts of an African COP, we need to ensure that COP 17 in Durban finally delivers a modicum of justice for Africa, which will continue to suffer the worst effects of a warmer world. Let us do all in our power to break this deadly global stalemate in the negotiations and restore moral courage to the world. I thank you.