Cancún must be about more than climate change | Wangari Maathai | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

If we are to help steer the world through this uncertainty, we must be clear that climate change, though important, is only one part of the puzzle. If we truly want to tackle climate change, poverty and conflict we need to think holistically. We need to, as Ban Ki-moon said at the launch of the UN global sustainability panel, "think big, connecting the dots between poverty, energy, food, water, environmental pressure and climate change".

Cancún climate summit: Rich accused of 'holding humanity hostage' | Environment | The Guardian

Tonight the first shots were fired in what are likely to be serious diplomatic clashes at the talks. In an interview with the Guardian, Bolivia's ambassador to the UN accused rich countries of "holding humanity hostage" and undermining the UN. "[Their] deliberate attempts to sideline democracy and justice in the climate debate will be viewed as reckless and immoral by future generations," he said. "I feel that Cancún will become a new Copenhagen if there is no shift in the next few days."

Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, warned journalists this week that if Cancún failed to move forward there would be a risk that some key parties would "start to simply lose interest in the international UN process". She said: "If Cancún delivers nothing, or not much, then the UN process is in danger."
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Huhne said: "If the world fails to stop emissions from continuing to climb by 2020, the prospects for the people on the planet are pretty bleak. Success from our point of view means getting closer to the legally binding deal we want."