Durban climate blog - day 2

The mood here in Durban has changed just a little, but sadly not in a positive way. Things feel a little overcast.

Not because of any deliberate action by any one country, but probably more to do with the dire lack of action by those most responsible for the impacts of climate change to help move these talks forward.

If I tell you that perhaps the most decisive thing to happen today was the decision to award COP18 - the next set of international climate talks - to Qatar, then you’ll understand the lack of clear progress that has been made in the first few days of these talks.

This glacial progress came against a backdrop of news from the UK’s World Meteorological Organisation that this year is on track to be the 10th warmest on record despite La Nina weather system which has been cooling global temperatures.

The only other notable happenings today came from the very nations most likely to be trashed as a result of climate change. Both AOSIS - the coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries - and the African group of nations made pointed comments at those countries dragging their heels here on action to curb emissions.

One colleague even suggested to me that AOSIS used some of the strongest diplomatic language they had ever heard in their many years of covering these negotiations.

Perhaps the most important statement came from the African group of nations who said they “would not allow African soil to be the graveyard of the Kyoto Protocol.”

I hope for all our sakes that they succeed.

• Lang Banks works for WWF Scotland and is representing the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition while in Durban