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Rich countries must play ball‚ Zuma tells COP21

President Jacob Zuma was set to deliver his opening address at the climate change conference in Paris‚ France on Monday.

The Presidency released Zuma’s statement on Monday.

Known as COP21‚ the conference began with President Francoise Hollande and other world leaders opening the proceedings.

Zuma’s speech opens with a reference to the climate change conference held in South Africa in 2011. “COP 21 is of immense importance to South Africa as it builds on the historic and bold decisions that were taken at COP 17 in Durban in 2011.

“Our mandate from Durban includes three critical areas: closing the ambition gap in the pre-2020 period‚ urgent entry into force of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol‚ and the adoption of a new agreement for the post-2020 period.

Zuma drew a distinction between the roles of developed and developing countries‚ saying the latter were already feeling the effects of global warming‚ much of the responsibility for which lay with the developed world.

He said: “We urge developed countries‚ given their historical responsibility‚ to take the lead and honour their existing commitments.

 “In this regard‚ climate finance must be scaled up significantly beyond the $100-billion mark for the post-2020 period.

“Should the developed nations fail to play their part‚ an impression will be created that the climate change crisis was caused by a few privileged nations who are not sympathetic about its impact on the majority.”

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