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Floods of tears as climate
change 'hard man' breaks down at summit
MARTIN DELGADO
UK
Daily Mail
Monday December 17, 2007
He is known as the "hard man" of climate-change negotiation.
But after 12 exhausting days of trying to reach a worldwide agreement
on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, it was suddenly all too
much for Yvo de Boer.
As the 200-nation Bali conference wrangled over a minor procedural
matter, the Dutch diplomat in charge of the talks burst into tears
and had to be led away by colleagues.
Moments earlier, Mr de Boer had been warning delegates that failure
to reach an agreement on global warming could "plunge the
world into conflict".
Officials from China, which feels Western countries should do
more to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, accused UN negotiators
of ignoring conference protocol.
(Article continues below)
Mr de Boer, distinctively dressed in a floral shirt, stepped
up to the microphone to defend his staff - only to find that the
words would no longer come.
As his unfinished sentences trailed away, he broke down and walked
off the platform to supportive applause.
"He wasn't just wiping his eyes, he was in floods of tears,"
said one observer.
"Three colleagues - one of them a woman - formed a protective
group around him and escorted him out of the hall. It was all
very dramatic."
Mr de Boer's breakdown came after nearly a fortnight of squabbling
over proposals to cut carbon emissions.
The European Union went to the conference demanding that industrialised
nations commit to cuts in CO2 emissions of 25-40 per cent by 2020,
a stance which was strongly opposed by the US, Canada and Japan.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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