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December 2, 2008 11:05:35 AM CST

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Bali: What Was Accomplished?

Posted Dec 16, 07 11:00 AM CST in Science & Health,  World 

(Newser) – Dismantling the “Berlin Wall of climate change”—the idea that rich nations alone should lead the fight against global warming—was the big breakthrough at the UN climate change conference in Bali, reports Time. It made it possible for the US, after a bruising confrontation and near-collapse of the talks, to finally endorse the agreement, ending nearly a decade of opposition to environmental responsibility.

The deal, which lays out a roadmap for talks leading to a binding pact by 2009, holds developed and developing economies, most notably China and India, accountable for carbon emissions. It also put deforestation into the mix, another change from the Kyoto Protocol. But it contains no specific targets for emissions cuts, and more incentives than penalties, leading environmentalists to call it a "weak deal."

Sources Time, Washington Post

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Environmental activists dressed as polar bears demonstrate in front the of the conference center where the negotiation of a post Kyoto protocol is taking place during the UN Climate Conference Friday...   (Associated Press)
An environmental activist dressed as a Polar bear poses for a photo on Kuta Beach after the end of the UN Climate Conference Saturday Dec. 15, 2007 in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)   (Associated Press)
Head of the U.S. delegation Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky, right, and James Connaughton, chairman of the White House council on environmental quality confer during the U.N. Climate Change...   (Associated Press)
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks to reporters during the U.N. Climate Change Conference Friday Dec. 14, 2007, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Ed Wray)   (Associated Press)
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addresses high level delegates to the U.N. Climate Change Conference Saturday Dec. 15, 2007, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. The U.N. climate conference adopted a plan...   (Associated Press)
Delegates applaud during the high level segment of the Third Session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007. In a...   (Associated Press)
Environmental activists holding flags from around the world demonstrate in front the of the conference center where the negotiation of a post Kyoto protocol deal is taking place during the UN Climate...   (Associated Press)
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