http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21759787/ By Fiona Harvey and Brooke Masters
updated 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
When the United Nations convenes a crucial meeting to discuss the future of the Kyoto protocol in Bali next month, Al Gore will make the keynote speech urging ministers to forge agreement on a successor.
Proponents of a new agreement hope his visit will be more successful than that of Bill Clinton at a similar meeting two years ago, which did not produce a breakthrough.
Mr Gore will come fresh from his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo a few days before. Mr Gore earns up to £50,000 ($100,000, €70,000) a time for speaking engagements and by his own estimate, he makes "about a dozen speeches a week". The influence the former vice-president exerts internationally among governments is clear from the roll-call of world leaders he is regularly photographed with.
In the last few weeks, he has held meetings with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, eager to shore up his own environmental credentials at home, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, numbers among his previous conquests.
Mr Gore's influence in US politics is also still considerable. Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are still neck and neck in some polls, and the backing of Mr Gore could prove a valuable fillip to their campaigns. All of the candidates have spoken at some length on global warming, seeing it as an issue on which they can distinguish themselves from Republicans and from each other.
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I am so hopeful with Mr. Gore giving the keynote in Bali next month at the UN summit on climate change! I have been hoping and asking that he do this. And it will be just days after his Nobel acceptance. I really do have a good feeling about this, and that this will be the catalyst for a global change taking place. And I agree with Mr. Gore that calling it 'Kyoto" may give a negative connotation to it so it should be named something totally different. And I am also hoping that any treaty forged there takes into account that those nations that are polluting the most and that have caused the effects of this should contribute more than others in footing the bill to mitigate what they have done and continue to do, and that includes China. While I believe this must be a global effort, I do not believe that Africa and other parts of the world that have not contributed to the effects of this crisis should be penalized, especially since they are feeling the worst effects of it due to our behavior. I hope to see a fair treaty and one that truly looks to the scientific facts rather than trying to appease certain political interests.