Nature special: Climate of compromise
The road to Copenhagen. With the UN Climate Change Conference just six weeks away, Nature this week (22 October issue) assesses how much - or little - progress is being made on tackling climate change in a set of Opinion articles and News Features, all free to read online for one month from the date of issue, as well as an Editorial (free to read online). The latest round of negotations shows that the gulf between rich and poor nations is as great as ever, and hopes of a strong agreement are rapidly fading. Raúl Estrada-Oyuela, a diplomat who guided the Kyoto negotiations, argues that success in Copenhagen will depend on the skills of the lead negotiator (Nature 461, 1056-1057; 2009) Meanwhile, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, comments on the Indian negotiation stance (p. 1054), while Jiahua Pan, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, examines the Chinese perspective on reducing global emissions (p. 1055) . A pair of news features take us around the world to look at efforts to adapt to climate change in Bhutan (pp 1042- 1046), and a project in Peru to monitor forest carbon (pp 1048-1052).
Successful international negotiations share some important characteristics with scientific research, argues an Editorial this week (Nature 461, 1027-1028; 2009). Both are iterative processes, in which results from one step help to determine the path forward. They require time and perseverance. And they rarely travel in a straight line. Countries should endeavour to build on the positive actions of the past year, both before and after the Copenhagen summit.
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