After the disappointment of Copenhagen, Bonn’s climate change talks have been called “a slow grind” by ABC Online.
Beginning on Monday, the Bonn talks are being watched closely by Pacific nations as they are already seeing the impact of global warming. The tiny nation of Tuvalu roared at Copenhagen by demanding legally binding agreements and tougher action to limit rising sea levels and climate change refugees, but their alternative agreement was dismissed.
The Solomon Island Times opened its coverage of the Bonn talks by highlighting the $30billion dollars promised by industrialised nations “to kick start climate action in developing countries.”
The Manila Bulletin was more upbeat because UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon mentioned the province of Albay as “among the first local governments which have already committed… to a two-year UN Campaign dubbed, ‘Making Cities Resilient’”. The campaign is aimed at disaster preparedness in the event of natural and climate change disaster.
The Fijian publication Islands Business however was more pessimistic, saying that not only would the Bonn talks yield no agreement, but talks later this year in Cancun would similarly not create a workable document. As they see it, China won’t even be looking at signing a binding international treaty until talks in South Africa which won’t be until late 2011.