Global climate change summit begins in Paris amid tight security

The Conference of Parties 21 (COP21) started on Monday morning at Le Bourget with a moment of silence for the Nov 13, 2015, terror attack victims. Despite a massive security cover in place, the city saw anti-global warming demonstrators turn out on the streets of Paris on Sunday and clash with the police at the Place de la Republique.

The inauguration saw over 150 world leaders pledge themselves to collective action to tackle the global climate change menace through a legally binding agreement. Among those present at the inaugural ceremony were UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US President Barack Obama, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Holland, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The world leaders are on a mission to come to a legally binding agreement to cut down the greenhouse gas emissions threatening to destroy the Earth. As many as 40,000 delegates from 195 countries will spend the next two weeks discussing the climate change problem and trying to reach a consensus on slowing the pace of the resultant global warming.

"A political moment like this may not come again," the UN secretary-general was reported telling the conference as he went on to describe the meet as a “great opportunity,” reports CNN.

"What greater rejection of those who would tear down our world than marshaling our best efforts to save it," the US president was quoted saying in his opening remarks, in an obvious reference to the Paris terror attacks.

The French president, while poignantly recalling the terror strikes, said that “never have the stakes been so high because this is about the future of the planet, the future of life," according to the New York Times.

The leaders of the two Asian giants – China and India – were also vocal in their support for a holistic approach to finding a long-term solution to the problem of climate change.

The Paris summit marks global efforts spanning more than 20 years at reaching a consensual deal that will pave the way for an effective solution to the climate change problem. The Kyoto and the Copenhagen meets of 2007 and 2009, respectively, had failed to deliver an impactful solution.

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