Katowice, Poland (CNN)The heads of state for some of the main countries causing climate change — the United States, the UK, Germany, China, Canada and India among them — are not present here in Poland to try to keep the wheels from falling off an agreement meant to save humanity and the planet.
So the weight of the world at the COP24 climate talks here in Poland appears to be falling on tiny nations like Vanuatu, which saw more than half of its GDP vanish after a recent cyclone.
That nation’s minister of foreign affairs, Ralph Regenvanu — call him “Minister Ralph,” his delegation says — has emerged as one of the few clear, moral voices present at these talks, which are seen by some scientists, environmentalists and policy experts as a “huge mess” that threaten to cause calamity if they fall apart entirely this week. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday said it would be “suicidal” for these global warming negotiations to fail.
