Climate: Negotiations in Paris under the pressure of alarming reports

Sixty ministers, meeting Monday for a second day in Paris, must give impetus towards the negotiations for a global climate agreement, after a new report alarmed politicians with the possibility of rising sea levels that partially engulf large cities.

“It is the very life on our planet which is in question, the urgency is absolute”, said the ministers, the head of French diplomacy, Laurent Fabius, future President of the COP 21 conference on climate (November 30 – December 11).

An agreement against global warming is expected at the end of this conference and this will be opened by a summit attended over a hundred heads of state and government.

This  “pre-COP” is met when a report by US researchers says that as a result of climate change, big cities like Shanghai, Mumbai and Hong Kong, are doomed in the long term, and will partly disappear under water even if the world succeeds in limiting global warming to 2 ° C.

A 2 ° C, the sea level will continue to rise, to cover now populated areas of 280 million people, advanced the study of Climate Central research institute. A 4 ° C, the phenomenon concerns more than 600 million people.

After the plenary session on Sunday, the ministers found themselves behind closed doors, in working groups by theme: fairness, ambition, finance post-2020 and actions pre-2020. Laurent Fabius, will present the findings of the work on Tuesday.