The 900 trees sacrificed for the wood in the giant room that will host the plenary sessions for 2,000 delegates will be replanted /AFP
They must welcome tens of thousands of participants to a site near the French capital, house them, feed and transport them, and do so in the greenest conditions possible, with the world’s media dissecting every aspect of the event’s organisation.
With US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping among more than 80 world leaders attending the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference – the biggest international meet in France since the Universal Declaration of Human rights was drawn up in 1948 – security will also be tight when proceedings open on November 30.
But above all else, as world leaders comes together aiming to reach a single agreement on tackling climate change, with the goal of capping warming at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels – the conference has to be ecologically exemplary.
This conference is “exceptional in every way, because of its duration (two weeks), the seriousness of what is at stake which affects us all, and because it brings together a great number of participants,” said the official in charge, Pierre-Henri Guignard.
A temporary town is being built at Le Bourget near Paris to host the event, with organisers claiming it has been planned according to the principles of sustainable development.
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