COPENHAGEN: On the second day of the United Nations Climate Change Summit and the momentum is still building up. It has left many observers curious as to what effect will the protests, demonstrations, and one “spiritual cleansing of the spirit†have on the decision that the politicians take. ““Your leaders do not come to Copenhagen just to talk, but to act. We need a strong and ambitious climate agreement here in Copenhagen,†said Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen. But out in the corridors different voices are sending forward their message. The International Indigenous People Forum on Climate Change took to the halls to state their point of view. Indigenous people are the original owners of lands that were later colonized by European powers. They can be found in the Americas and Australia among other places. They are worried that they are not being included in the discussions for the future of the Earth. “It is very hard for us to have a voice here in the discussions,†said Hawaiian Gina Nabrega, president of said Nakoa Ikaika, which is a group representing the needs of indigenous people in several Pacific islands. “There is nothing in the text about indigenous people or their needs or challenges,†she said on the sidelines of the summit. For indigenous people, the earth stewardship is of very high importance. They rely on it for their livelihood as well as their spiritual rituals. On the political side, the clashes have begun. The developing countries slammed the industrialized world for trying to shift the responsibility away from themselves. They feel they are being asked to do more to reduce their emissions while the developed countries get a ‘free pass.’ The strong words came from the head of the Sudanese delegation Ambassador Ibrahim Mirghani Ibrahim. By doing so, he said, the developed world continue to occupy a growing share of the ‘global climate space.’ Dr. Katherine Richardson, vice dean for Public Outreach at Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, confirms this will be pivotal in talks. “We have the knowledge now of how much our garbage dump is. We know how much carbon we can dump into the atmosphere to keep temp rise at 2 degrees Celsius. What we are trying to do now is levy how that dump is used.†There are climate change detractors, however, as Saudi Arabia's chief climate change negotiator Prince Mohammad Al-Sabban said that email hackers who doubt climate change will have a “huge impact” on the proceedings. His statement has left some questioning the role of some nations at the summit. “It appears from the details of the scandal that there is no relationship whatsoever between human activities and climate change,†Al-Sabban was quoted as saying by the BBC Friday. Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Cynthia Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote, “the climate change doubters may want to reconsider their position since it attracts some dubious allies. You know who is up-in-arms about the e-mails hacked from climate scientists at University of East Anglia University? Saudi Arabia, that’s who.” **additional reporting by Joseph Mayton. BM
