BBC Environment — Speaking here at the UN climate conference, the former US presidential candidate Albert Gore said the “sclerotic” politics of today had to change. His speech was met with rapturous applause by thousands of delegates. But environmental groups here criticised the EU’s climate and energy package, agreed earlier in Brussels.

EU leadership is widely seen as vital in clinching a global deal at the next UN conference in Copenhagen in a year’s time; and campaigners say European governments have concluded a weak agreement.

But Mr Gore, who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change, said he saw more reasons for optimism than pessimism. “To those who say it’s too difficult to conclude a deal by Copenhagen, I say it can be done, it will be done, let’s finish this process.” …

Mr Gore highlighted the Himalayas as an area of the Earth that is feeling climate impacts. The mountain range acts as a natural reservoir, feeding water into major rivers such as the Brahmaputra, Ganges and Salween.

The potential of climate change to disturb the freshwater supply to more than a billion people makes it, he said, a moral and spiritual issue. “It is wrong for this generation to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every future generation.” …

Nepal’s environment minister Ganesh Shah told BBC News: “What he said was very encouraging in terms of describing climate change in humanitarian terms and as something of great urgency. As a minister of Nepal, it is very heart-touching, and I think global attention will now be on the Himalayas.” (12/12/08)
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