Martin to attend world climate change talks (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

Martin to attend world climate change talks

December 1, 2010 2:43 PM

CHELTENHAM MP Martin Horwood is to attend the world climate change talks in Cancun, Mexico, which have begun this week. Martin will be an observer at the talks on behalf of the all-party climate change group, a group of MPs concerned about global warming. The Cancun talks - officially the 16th conference of the parties (COP16) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) - follow the failure of the much-hyped COP15 climate change summit in Copenhagen one year ago. The Copenhagen summit ended in acrimony as a smaller group of countries sought to break the deadlock in the main talks by producing their own text, the Copenhagen Accord, which was then criticised by the many nations excluded from the discussion. The binding and transparent deal on climate change hoped for by many environmental groups, scientists and campaigners did not materialise.

'It is an enormous privilege to be able to attend what should be the most important meeting in the world this year' said Martin. 'Climate change threatens our prosperity, our food supply, our chance of a peaceful future and potentially our children's whole way of life. The world absolutely has to come together in a binding arrangement to tackle the crisis. That deal has to include world's largest economies, the United States and China, who will have to bury their rivalry and agree to real transparency so that we can be sure they are both playing their part.

'I know many campaigners and concerned residents in Cheltenham will be hoping that Cancun delivers a more successful outcome than Copenhagen. The truth is that expectations are low and that a real deal is unlikely before next year at the earliest. The real task in Cancun is get everybody together again and working on the same project after the disaster that was Copenhagen. If we can also agree some of the finer details on important issues like deforestation that will mark important progress.'

Martin will be joining the second week of the talk, through to their expected conclusion on 10 December.