UN Climate Change Summit - Hot Air in Durban | Quadriga

Delegates from 194 nations are attending the UN Climate Chance Conference in Durban, but before it had even begun, they did not seem optimistic. The chances of achieving a binding agreement that could help save the planet appear remote. A great deal of effort and bargaining are going into producing a follow-up treaty to the Kyoto Protocol, but it's the big industrialized countries that seem most reluctant to commit to strictly regulating carbon dioxide emissions. What is the outlook for the years after 2012? Do we simply have to resign to global warming and the natural disasters that result?

Our guests:

Dagmar Dehmer is a journalist who has worked for the German daily "Tagesspiegel" in Berlin since 2001. Before that she worked for the business desk of the Badische Zeitung, a regional newspaper based in the southern city of Freiburg. She has specialized in the environment and development, particularly in Africa.

Christian Schwägerl - After studying biology Schwägerl was an arts and sciences correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Berlin from 2001 to 2007. Today he writes for newsmagazine "Der Spiegel". He specializes in topics in science, biopolicy, climate change, climate protection and research policy.

Ramesh Jaura was born in India. After completing a Masters at the University of Delhi in 1964, he then began work as a journalist. Since 1987 he has been the head of the IPS news agency for the German-speaking world in Berlin. Globalisation and its effects on the lives of people in the developing world are at the centre of his reporting.