COPENHAGEN—While a two-dimensional view casts the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen as a battle between the United States and China — over monetary commitments for developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, over what temperature rise the world's leaders will permit (anything over 1.5 degrees Celcius gets scary), and over transparency (the U.S. wants China's efforts to reduce pollution to be monitored) — the G77 bloc of poor nations (mostly African nations, Latin American countries, and Pacific island states) is still playing hardball.
They're on the frontlines, their people are already dying in the hundreds of thousands due to climate change, and they don't have the infrastructure to greenify their infrastructure.
On behalf of TheUptake.org, I was able to capture the voices of two particular strong voices representing the weak at the COP15 summit: President Mohammed Nasheed of the Maldives, a Pacific island state which is two meters high at its highest point and will die a watery death within this century if climate changed is not stopped, and Lumumba Stanislaus di-Aping, a Sudanese native and the chief negotiator for the G77 block. Watch those videos below:
—Jacob Wheeler, In These Times contributing editor and videographer for TheUptake.org.
Jacob Wheeler is a contributing editor at In These Times.
