THE voices of European youths echoed off the walls of the Bella Centre here yesterday as they demanded that developed countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by no less than 40 per cent, in the interest of the developing world.

It is at the Bella Centre where negotiators from across the world are meeting at the Bella Centre where they are attempting to hammer out a climate deal, ahead of the completion of the two-week round of climate change talks that end on December 18.

“Our (protest) action focuses on developed countries. We demand that they recognise their climate debt and repay it,” said Susanne Hammel of the group Young Friends of the Earth Europe. “Besides financing and adaptation requirements for developing countries, developed countries have to reduce emissions drastically. We are calling for at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. Whatever more they can do is better.”

Hammel was quick to add that offsetting — realised through the funding of projects designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the developing world, such as wind farms — as not to be included in that figure.

“Change in Annex 1 (developed) countries is possible. They can reduce consumption and change their lifestyles to reduce their climate debt,” the Young Friends of the Earth representative said. “The only thing that is missing is the political will.”

The 30 placard-bearing young people gathered in the corridors of the conference centre shouting “We want climate justice and we want it now!” while making clear their demands for the emission reductions.

Negotiators from the developing world, notably those of the Alliance of Small Island States, of which Jamaica is a member, are asking for no more than a 1.5 degree rise in temperature. At the same time, they want financing for adaptation and technology to aid their efforts.

Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are fuelling global warming, thus forcing a change in the earth’s climate. The consequences of a changing climate include sea level rise that could wipe out entire countries, and warmer global temperatures that could increase the incidence of such diseases as dengue and malaria. The developing world, with its limited natural and financial resources, stands to be the worse affected.