Cancún climate change summit: Week two in pictures

This week has seen the Cancún climate change summit in Mexico step up a gear with high-level talks, while environmental activists have continued to protest at what they call its limited aims

  • Monday 6 December:

    Greenpeace and tcktcktck activists performing under water in Cancún, Mexico, during the United Nations climate change conference
    COP16 updates: Greenpeace and tcktcktck activists performing under water in Cancún

  • At the Cancún climate change summit
    COP16 updates: At the Cancún climate change summit

  • Jairam Ramesh (left), India's minister of environment and forests, talks with Xie Zhenhua (right), Chinese national development minister
    COP16 updates: Jairam Ramesh (left), India's minister of environment and forests, talks with Xie Zhenhua (right), Chinese national development minister

  • US energy secretary Steven Chu (right) speaks during a conference. Sitting next to him are Carlos Pascual, the US ambassador to Mexico, and Mexico's energy secretary, Georgina Kessel
    COP16 updates: US energy secretary Steven Chu (right)

  • Panel at a 'Building Bridges' event, referring to links between the private sector and negotiators as well as between actors in developed and developing countries. (From left) Cesar Remis, ministry of foreign affairs, Mexico; moderator Yvo de Boer, KPMG; Jean-Yves Caneill, ElectricitŽ de France (EDF); Henry Derwent, president, International Emissions Trading Association (IETA); and Russel Mills, The Dow Chemical Company Finance for Green Growth
    COP16 updates: Panel at a 'Building Bridges' event

  • Tuesday 7 December:

    An activist sprays the window of a fast food restaurant during a march called by the NGO Via Campesina, which gathers peasants from around the world, in the streets of Cancún, Mexico. Thousands of activists and Mexican peasants, holding rainbow flags and playing drums and flutes, marched from central Cancún en route to the luxury hotel where talks were under way
    COP16 updates: An activist sprays the window of a fast food restaurant in Cancún

  • Children greet UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon as he walks in with executive secretary of UNFCCC Christiana Figueres at the inauguration of high-level talks in Cancún
    COP16 updates: Children greet UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon

  • UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon talks with various heads of state and officials from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
    COP16 updates: UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon talks with various heads of state and UNFCCC officials

  • The opening of the high-level segment of the Cancún climate change summit
    COP16 updates: The opening of the high-level segment of the Cancún climate change summit

  • A Redd+ event on protecting forests. Redd stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries. (From left) Earl Saxon, Union of Concerned Scientists; John Lanchbery, Birdlife International; Melanie Coath, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB); Chris Henschel, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS)
    COP16 updates: A Redd+ event on protecting forests

  • An activist at a protest march in CancúnPhotograph: Roberto Escobar/EPA
    COP16 updates: An activist at a protest march in Cancún

  • Activists outside the Pitaya Cancún Messe, where the climate talks are taking place
    COP16 updates: Activists outside the Pitaya Cancún Messe, where the climate talks are taking place

  • A forum at Via Campesina climate camp, an international movement of peasants, set during the Cancún climate change summit
    COP16 updates: A forum at Via Campesina climate camp, an international movement of peasants

  • Activists at the Pitaya Cancún Messe
    COP16 updates: Activists at the Pitaya Cancún Messe

  • Wednesday 8 December:

    The president of the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock National Confederation, Katia Abreu, rejects the symbolic 'Golden Chainsaw' awarded by Greenpeace and given to her by an indigenous woman from the Amazonia
    COP16 updates: The president of the Brazilian Agriculture and Livestock National Confederation, Katia Abreu

  • The Avoided Deforestation Partners' conference in Cancún is attended by (from left) George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management; Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of Indonesia's delivery unit for Redd; Jens Stoltenberg, prime minister of Norway; and Bharrat Jagdeo, president of Guyana
    COP16 updates: The Avoided Deforestation Partners' conference in Cancún

  • UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon presents the key findings of the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing
    COP16 updates: UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon

  • A woman walks on the deck of the world's largest solar-powered boat in Cancún. The Turanor Planet Solar arrived in the Mexican beach resort as part of its expedition around the globe
    COP16 updates: The world's largest solar-powered boat

  • 'Stop talking, Start planting': Heads of government and children plant one tree per country in front of the Moon palace conference halls in Cancún. Here Felix Finkbeiner is pictured with President Correa of Ecuador
    COP16 updates: Felix Finkbeiner with President Correa of Ecuador

  • Activists from Greenpeace demonstrate by holding images of landmarks in the water at Cancún. According to the UN weather agency, 2010 is 'almost certain' to rank among the three hottest years on record, and in a report issued on Tuesday experts said glaciers in South America and Alaska have been losing mass faster and for longer than glaciers elsewhere in the world
    COP16 updates: Activists from Greenpeace demonstrate by holding images of landmarks in the water at Cancún

  • An event to discuss the UN's ability to adapt to climate change is attended by (from left) Helena Molin Valdes, UNISDR; Michel Jarraud, WMO; Helen Clark, UNDP; Anote Tong, president of the Republic of Kiribati; Xianfu Lu, UNFCCC; Axumite Gebre-Egziabher, UNHABITAT; and Stanlake Samkange, WFP
    COP16 updates: Adaptation to Climate Change

  • A discussion on nations' experiences of global warming issues is attended by (from left) mediator, conservationist and author of the Stern Report, Lord Nicholas Stern; Palau's President Johnson Toribiong; Ethiopia's Prime Minister Zenawi Meles; Mexican President Felipe Calderon; Grenada's Prime Minister Tillman Thomas; Honduras' President Porfirio Lobo; and the President of the African Union Commission Jean Ping
    COP16 updates: Lord Stern hosts a discussion on global warming

  • Informal consultations involving US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern (writing with his left hand); Brazilian ambassador and chief climate change negotiator Luiz Figueiredo (centre); and UK energy secretary Chris Huhne (sitting at computer)
    COP16 updates: Informal consultations involving US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern

  • 9 December:

    Activists from the 350.org environmental protection NGO sit on a table partially submerged in water as they pretend to represent countries taking part in the UN climate talks during a staged news conference at a beach in Cancún
    Cacun COP16 update: Activists from the 350.org

  • The Brazilian minister of environment, Izabella Teixeira, speaks to the Brazilian special ambassador for climate change, Sergio Serra, during a press conference
    Cacun COP16 update: Brazilian Minister of Environment delegation

  • The Mexican President, Felipe Calderon (R), and the South African President, Jacob Zuma, pose during a private meeting. With one day left for the UN-led talks in Mexico, Zuma urged the more than 190 nations to set up 'the building blocks' for a comprehensive climate deal when he leads next year's meeting in Durban
    Cacun COP16 update: Mexican President Felipe Calderon and South African President Jacob Zuma,

  • Picture taken during the plenary session of the COP16 United Nations Climate Change conference on 9 December
    Cacun COP16 update: Picture taken during the plenary session

  • Saudi Arabia's minister of petroleum and mineral resources, Ali Ibrahim Al Naimi, gives a speech at a plenary session
    Cacun COP16 update: Saudi Arabia's Minister of Petroleum Ali Ibrahim Al Naimi

  • The vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, Xie Zhenhua (C), speaks during a meeting with NGO organisations
    Cacun COP16 update: Xie Zhenhua

  • The Bolivian President Evo Morales (C) laughs on the main stand as he arrives at a music show featuring a Bolivian band, at the Global Forum for Life and Social and Environmental Justice, a sideline event
    Cacun COP16 update: Bolivian President Evo Morales
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