Blogging Notes from the High Level Segment

President
of Guatemala:
"This is a crisis of principles and values. It is not a question of how
much money I am going to make. It is a question of how many lives I am going to
save."



President of Nauru:
(representing 14 low lying island states)

Noting that only 10,000 people speak his native language and that it may soon
disappear, "but no words are as exotic as those of climate change
negotiators. You speak in acronyms, "LULUCF" "LCA"...”



We have flown half way around the globe to be here today. We have a
responsibility as leaders to work for our people. We are the heads of the
Pacific family and we will continue to defend our family.  We have not
come here for charity. Our principles will not be sold to the highest
bidder...we are fighting to adapt to the new environmental realities we face.
There is very little room to compromise. When you ask us to compromise, you are
asking us to decide how many islands wil we lose...



There is a phrase in these negotiations that gives us hope "a shared
vision." This must be a collective effort to deliver a world to our
children.



President of Palau:
I stand here as a Head of state but I will speak as one of the sons of the
Pacific. Our lives and livelihoods depend on the oceans.  The oceans that
gave us life, now threaten to swallow us. We can no longer treat climate change
as a topic of negotiations. Climate Change is not negotiable. Climate change is
a crisis.