The development agency's climate expert Mohamed Adow said the deal reached at Durban, South Africa, had saved the talks but endangered the lives of people living in poverty.

Climate negotiators spent last week hammering out an agreement on carbon emission cuts. The "Durban road map" commits countries to drawing up a new pact by 2015, to come into force in 2020.

The letter urged the nation to either lead or get out of the way of progress: "If the United States is not going to lead the world in solving the climate crisis, please stand out of the way. Delaying a climate deal until 2020 would slam the door on avoiding catastrophic climate change."

"There's only a handful of Pacific youth here in Durban, but we are giving everything we've got to ensure that the US and other big polluters don't get away with destroying the future of our Pacific Islands. It's frustrating and hard, but we don't have any choice - we can't just stand by and watch our future drown," said 350.org Pacific's spokesperson Ewan Cameron, who is from the Cook Islands.

Source

• 350.org
• Image: 350.0rg