U.N. climate plans v. the poor...

...Climate mitigation schemes, in contrast, are too often dreamed up by bureaucrats with little appreciation of the local situation. The Nigerian government, for example, recently announced its intention to generate 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2012, forgetting that the vast majority of its people rely on noxious fuels like wood or dung because they have no access to existing electricity, let alone any future schemes. Nigeria has recently spent over US$10 billion, according to some estimates, on an energy programme that has added zero megawatts to existing supply.

People need electricity now, not pipedreams: sustainable bio-mass fuels, meaning dung and wood, kill at least 1.6 million children a year, the World Health Organisation says.

The world's poorest countries must continue to fight for greater realism in the climate debate: their livings and even their lives depend on it....More here...