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NUSA DUA, Indonesia - The UN-sponsored climate change conference offers a critical opportunity to provide political answers to the scientific warnings on global warming, summit head Yvo de Boer said Sunday.
"The scientific community has come with very clear messages to the politicians," said De Boer during a press conference.
"The message that addressing climate change is affordable and that concerted action now can avoid many of the catastrophic impacts" that could be ahead, he added, noting that "stronger political will" is necessary.
De Boer heads the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is holding a two-week conference in Bali starting Monday to discuss what governments can do after the Kyoto Protocol expires.
Other issues include tackling the greenhouse effect, and how the international community can prevent climate change.
Maintaining a focus on deforestation is one aspect of a long-term solution to climate change, De Boer said.
"We have to develop a better understanding of exactly how much carbon is captured in trees if you leave them standing, we have to develop a better understanding of how you can build safeguards to ensure that trees aren't cut down at a later moment in time," he said.
De Boer hoped that the conference would achieve two things, including the launch of a series of pilot projects to show how avoiding deforestation can be beneficial, and a working agreement on climate change.
The conference brings together more than 180 countries together with experts and non-governmental organisations. Some 1,500 journalists from around the world have been accredited for the conference, said De Boer.
- AFP /ls
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