Delegates from developing countries and small island states spoke up at the tenth Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP10), which opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Monday (6 December). Tanzania's delegate said that for the world's 48 least developed countries, climate change is "more catastrophic than terrorism".

The delegates called on developed nations to fulfil their commitment to help developing nations mitigate climate change by providing funds and making technologies available. They expressed hope that a new era of international cooperation would begin soon, and called for increased measures to help them adapt to the effects of climate change.

Joke Waller-Hunter, executive secretary of the convention's secretariat, said there had been a 6.6 per cent reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases between 1990 and 2000. However, she said, this global figure disguised the fact that emissions from developing countries during that same period had increased by seven per cent. Also at COP10, the United States said it had no intention signing the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

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