Activists Slam Inaction at UN Climate Change Meeting

The 6-day United Nations Climate Change Conference, with some 2,000 delegates from 196 countries, convened in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday amid demands from activists for increased responsibility from developed countries.

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The meeting's agenda attempts to implement the guidelines of the Paris Agreement, where 195 countries have committed to keeping rising global temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius.

"We have not progressed far enough. It (the Bangkok conference) is not just an additional session; it is an urgent session," said Fijian Prime Minister and COP23 President Frank Bainimarama during the opening remark. 

Both the UN agency and non-governmental organizations have also urged developed countries to play a bigger role in tackling climate change, according to the Gulf Times.

"Highly inadequate climate finance compromises the capacity of the developing world to survive a (climatic or natural) crisis that rich countries are responsible for," said ActionAid International member Harjeet Singh in a statement.

The NGOs and activists protesting for greater action to be taken via the Bangkok conference and the COP24 were pessimistic, stating that both fall well short of yielding any concrete solutions to climate change. Instead, they have called for multi-level action, particularly in their home countries.

"We see that trust in this global process is at an all-time low. We need to be pressuring our governments at home. We need to be implementing real solutions ourselves," said Lucy Cadena of Friends of the Earth environmental network.

Speaking at another press conference, Meena Raman of Third World Network said "[The meetings] are much more about creating loopholes and escape routes for developed countries, in particular," because they do not want to take concrete "actions."