Sayed Talat Kamal from Durban, South Africa, reported that developing countries are expressing concerns that they are taking climate change more seriously than rich countries. The US, in particular, is being criticized for not making progress on important issues related to climate change. Delegates from Europe and the head of the African bloc at the UN Climate Summit in Durban have both criticized the US stance. Mali delegate Seyni Nafo stated that developed countries are not treating climate change as a serious global issue. Nafo highlighted the US's leadership in areas such as democracy, human rights, and market access, and called for similar leadership in addressing climate change. Arthur Runge-Metzger, the EU's chief negotiator, expressed concerns about the US delegation being hindered by the current domestic climate where climate change is not a popular issue. He noted that the Obama administration faces challenges in moving forward with climate change due to the situation in Congress. The US is perceived as delaying negotiations by seeking conditions that would legally require all countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions, causing delays in discussions on funding for developing low-carbon economies and addressing the impacts of global warming. Climate change is caused by greenhouse gases trapping the sun's heat in the earth's atmosphere, leading to rising global temperatures and resulting in extreme weather events such as cyclones, floods, rising sea levels, drought, erosion, and increased salinity. It is widely agreed that a temperature increase of over 2 degrees Celsius would lead to irreversible climate change. Global studies supported by the United Nations and the scientific community suggest that in order to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees, global emissions need to be reduced to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020 and to 95 percent by 2050. It is crucial that emissions do not peak after 2015. The United States has expressed a preference for voluntary commitments by countries to reduce emissions instead of binding targets. The US has committed to reducing emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, with no plans to change this pledge in the near future according to US delegation chief Jonathan Pershing. Despite these voluntary pledges, Runge-Metzger argues that they only amount to about half of what is necessary to prevent a potential climate catastrophe. In the first statement from the Bolivian delegation, Rene Orellana strongly rejected the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Redd) initiative, stating that forests should not be viewed as carbon stocks but rather as essential providers of food security, water resources, and biodiversity for indigenous populations. Orellana emphasized that Bolivia, with almost half of its land covered by forests, does not support the emissions offsetting scheme of Redd. Redd stated that the forest's function is often simplified to just carbon stocks. Orellana criticized certain aspects of the Green Climate Fund, specifically payments tied to the outcomes of green initiatives. Despite recent political turmoil in Bolivia, the country has remained steadfast in its environmental stance at the 17th meeting of the UN climate change convention. Bolivia has even enacted groundbreaking legislation granting nature the same rights as humans. Scientists warn that heat waves, previously occurring every 20 years, will become an annual occurrence due to rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. Additionally, coastal regions and islands are at risk of being flooded due to the effects of global warming, and it is predicted that within the next ten years, an additional 250 million people will experience water shortages. Advocates for climate action believe that stabilizing carbon levels in the atmosphere would only slightly impact economic growth, with a decrease of 0.12 percent per year. They argue that any associated costs would be balanced out by improved health, increased energy security, and more reliable food sources.