UN to Add YouTube to Live TV for Climate Momentum

UN to Add YouTube to Live TV for Climate Momentum

~ The UN is turning to YouTube to jolt the world's plodding climate diplomacy into higher gear ~

Instead of relying solely on live television, organizers of the UN chief's Sept. 22 climate summit say they've asked some world leaders to make pre-recorded video statements for release on a summit Web site and on YouTube.

Progress toward a new global climate treaty in December in Copenhagen, Denmark, has been moving way too slow and there are only about 15 days left for negotiators to meet, Janos Pasztor, director of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's climate change support team says.

"If things were wonderful, we wouldn't need a summit," he says.

Ban has made climate change his No. 1 priority this year. Nations are seeking a pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which bound 37 industrial countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels by 2012.

An Obama administration official notes that climate problems are a priority for Ban and for the US president, who supports mandatory emission reductions.

The administration official said Obama's belief that Ban's summit is important is demonstrated by the president's plan to speak at the opening and to attend the dinner.


for complete article:
AP/Nanet Poulsen
2009-09-09
http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2056