The United Nations climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico
concluded with an agreement on what is needed to avoid climate
change in the future. Though it falls short of making some of
the broader changes scientists say are necessary, the Cancun
Agreement gives the 190 countries who participated another year
to decide whether or not to extend the Kyoto Protocol. (The
Kyoto Protocol of 1997 asks that wealthy nations reduce their
emissions and help assist developing nations as they make clean
energy decisions.) More specifically, the agreement establishes
a fund to help developing nations adapt to climate change,
creates new ways to share clean energy technology, provides
compensation for conservation, and strengthens the emissions
reductions pledges that came out of Copenhagen. Most countries
believe that the agreement lays a solid foundation that can be
built upon at next year’s conference in Durban, South Africa.
Todd Stern, an American representative, says that the package
solidified commitments from all