192 nations at UN climate conference in Copenhagen

(December 7, 2009) The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference in history opened on Monday, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming. The Dec. 7-18 conference, the climax of two years of contentious negotiations, convened in an upbeat mood after a series of promises by rich and emerging economies to curb their greenhouse gases, but with major issues yet to be resolved. Conference president Connie Hedegaard of Denmark said the key to an agreement is finding a way to raise and channel public and private financing to poor countries for years to come to help them fight the effects of climate change. Danish prime minister Lars Rasmussen said 110 heads of state and government will attend the final days of the conference. The conference opened with video clips of children from around the globe urging delegates to help them grow up in a world without catastrophic warming. At stake is a deal that aims to wean the world away from fossil fuels and other pollutants to greener sources of energy, and to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from rich to poor countries every year over decades to help them adapt to climate change. Scientists say without such an agreement, the Earth will face the consequences of ever-rising temperatures, leading to the extinction of plant and animal species, the flooding of coastal cities, more extreme weather events, drought and the spread of diseases.