Project Co-ordinator at Earth life, Tristan Taylor says the Copenhagen Accord is a bad day for Africa. Taylor says: "There is a terrible amount of spin going around - we did not really reachea deal at Copenhagen, and it was a very bad day for the planet, a bad day for Africa because we are experiencing the worst effects of climate change and it was a bad day for you and me, because we are going to live through it." 

World leaders insist that the climate deal that has been clinched is the best that can be done after efforts by heads of states to hammer out a global deal. The summit came to an end with a political agreement called the Copenhagen Accord, which was founded by some of the world's biggest emitters - the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Buyela Sonjica has  reiterated government’s disappointment with the Copenhagen Accord  reached at the UN Summit. 

Sonjica said: “We are definitely not happy:  I think that what has been agreed to is a bit disappointing for South Africa - we were expecting an internationally legal binding agreement, given that the leaders of the world including our own president, had to intervene.

“We managed to get a politically binding agreement which has been difficult for quite some time - while we are unhappy,  at the same time we think there is a foundation that we can work on  going on forward;” Sonjica added.