Well, Dateline has made it here to "wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen" - as the legendary lyric so rightly puts it - the city of Hans Christian Andersen's famous Little Mermaid on the rock, the city of bikes by the street-load, and, of course, the distinctive oxidised copper roofs of its splendid old buildings - old green architecture for what is today the new green Copenhagen. In fact, Copenhagen is officially Europe's most environmentally friendly city. Great city. Shortly, the latest from here on the frantic reshaping in recent days of the climate change summit and its aspirations. Were they too high? It certainly looks like it. The fact of the matter is that climate change is affecting everyone, everywhere, rich, poor, developed, underdeveloped, the polluted and the polluter. Here's Amos Roberts in India on how that country and its teeming millions are coping - or otherwise - with the problem.
REPORTER: Amos Roberts
The Sunderbans is the world's largest river delta and one of the areas most vulnerable to global warming. For filmmaker and environmentalist Pradip Saha, it provides a glimpse of what's in store for our planet.
PRADIP SAHA, FILMMAKER AND ENVIRONMENTALIST: This is one of the islands which is disappearing at a very fast rate - almost become half in last 25 years. Every month I come, I land in a different place because the last place I landed, it's gone.
Islands are often appearing and disappearing in a delta - but the erosion of Ghoramara Island has been accelerated by sea level rise. Barriers are built to protect the islanders from the encroaching tide.
PRADIP SAHA: This place keeps on changing. Last time I came there was not this embankment. The front embankment's almost gone, so it's a second line of defence they've already created. And that's the way it goes - constantly, one after another.
REPORTER: They just keep building walls to keep out the sea?
PRADIP SAHA: Yeah, they just go, "Move in, move in." This was not there before. This is a new one.
There are no roads here and apart from some solar panels there's no electricity. The islanders on Ghoramara haven't contributed to global warming. The only way to get around is by foot or on a cycle rickshaw. Pradip is going to the western part of the island, where he saw waves washing into homes on his last visit.
PRADIP SAHA: Oh!
REPORTER: What's happened?
PRADIP SAHA: It's gone. The house has gone. Just one wall.
REPORTER: That house was here when you were here last?
PRADIP SAHA: Yep. Yeah, yeah.
What the tide hadn't taken away was destroyed by a cyclone a few months ago.
PRADIP SAHA: This is completely... I can't recognise anything. I came here just two months ago.
Climate scientists attribute the increasing frequency and intensity of cyclones here to global warming. This woman used to live in the house Pradip wanted to show me.
WOMAN (Translation): The rising waters swallowed everything. Not only that, but they swept everything away. Part of the house was on top of the dam and the rest just went.
PRADIP SAHA (Translation): Do you think it's safe where you are now?
WOMAN (Translation): It's not safe, the river will go there. The water laps against it. We're nervous living there.
REPORTER: This is your house right behind you. Are you worried about what might happen if the sea gets any further?
OLD MAN (Translation): Yes, I am afraid. When the water is highest, I move away. The high water covers everything. The water gets into the house - you can't stay. When the water comes in, there's nothing you can do.
PRADIP SAHA (Translation): Which way? Which way?
WOMAN (TRANSLATION): Over there.
We've just been told that a large chunk of land on the north coast fell into the sea yesterday.
WOMAN (Translation): People had their houses here. There was land there.
PRADIP SAHA (Translation): The entire plain has now gone?
WOMAN (Translation): Yes.
MAN (Translation): In the last few days.
WOMAN (Translation): You need to see it to understand the immensity of the loss.
MAN (Translation): Over there was land like here. I'd let the cattle graze there. I've rebuilt three times. Three. The first time, over there. Their house was next to mine. See the dinghies? Beyond those.
REPORTER: How long do you think it will take the sea to reach your homes?
MAN (Translation): There's one more embankment. It'll go in five to seven years.
Working out an exact chain of cause and effect for climate change is always difficult. The erosion of these islands is also blamed on disturbance to the river mud caused by passing ships and a lack of proper dredging by local port authorities. But older residents agree with scientists that the recent erosion isn't natural.
OLD MAN (Translation): A river suffers erosion like a body suffers illness. But in comparison to 50 years ago, the erosion now has become a frightening phenomenon. The island, worn away by the floods, has contracted to a small area. We're not secure here. If the erosion continues, there will be no island in 10 to 20 years.
Environmentalist Pradip Saha says India should brace itself for social unrest.
PRADIP SAHA: Now, if you have to move these people at some point, there is no place - there is not an inch left. All I know is that it's going to be pretty violent, because nobody's going to give up anything and, you know, a family will have to do whatever they have to do to feed the family, so people will do whatever they have to do.
At the same time that India suffers from global warming, it's also - increasingly - making the problem worse. Years of record economic growth mean India's greenhouse gas emissions have increased dramatically and are now coming in for scrutiny at climate change negotiations.
SHYAM SARAN, INDIAN CLIMATE CHANGE ENVOY: If there are countries which are saying India is the problem, let us see if India is the problem. You know, you have the United States of America - which has something like 20% of the global emissions in the world. You have Europe, which probably counts for another 20%-25% of the global emissions. And what is India, with her billion-plus population? Only 4% of the global emissions.
REPORTER: But India is still the fourth biggest emitter.
SHYAM SARAN: Well, I mean this ranking is a bit misleading, isn't it? Look at the gap between number one, number two and number three or number four.
Today, even in large parts of rural India, the trappings of middle class life - and the power to pollute - are finally within reach. This brand-new Maruti Omni has been sent out by a local showroom to entice villagers with the comfort and convenience of transport on four wheels. Maruti is the country's largest car maker. Its rural sales have more than tripled in the past few years.
CUSTOMER (Translation): This is for the luggage.
MARUTI SALESMAN 1 (Translation): Yes, or a gas tank. If you get a gas tank fitted it will give good mileage.
MARUTI SALESMAN 2 (Translation): 10 years ago a bike was a big thing. Then came the 2-wheeler and now most people have one. And now we are selling 4-wheelers. Once, a car was a dream for farmers and workers. Now farmers are buying Maruti and many farmers have them.
MARUTI SALESMAN 1 (Translation): The interior has changed and so has the body. They styled it on Japanese cars, so it looks beautiful.
This farmer has decided to buy a car for his daughter's dowry. For an upwardly mobile couple, two wheels just won't do.
CUSTOMER (Translation): The boy and the girl are educated.
MAN (Translation): They are educated, but why not a motorcycle?
CUSTOMER (Translation): Oh, no, they are highly educated - college educated and very senior. That's why I'm giving it to them.
His daughter doesn't have a driver's licence and he's only got a tractor licence, but this doesn't seem to pose any obstacle.
REPORTER: Are there a lot of people driving cars that don't have a driving licence?
MARUTI SALESMAN: Yes. Yes, yes. Yes!
India, along with other developing nations, has always been exempt from international agreements to cut emissions. The idea was that poor countries needed time to catch up to rich ones. But in the lead-up to Copenhagen, the United States and Australia have suggested that large developing nations also need to set clear targets for reducing the future growth of emissions.
DR JONATHAN PERSHING, US DEPUTY SPECIAL ENVOY: We don't have any time! Otherwise, the cost is staggering.
At a climate change summit in New Delhi last month I found America's deputy special envoy for climate change, Jonathan Pershing, diplomatically pushing for commitments from India.
REPORTER: What does the United States want to see from India?
DR JONATHAN PERSHING, US DEPUTY SPECIAL ENVOY: The United States would like to see the implementation of the aggressive programs and policies that India's put into place. And the US believes it is most effective if countries - including India, including China, including Brazil, major economies - can take these domestic actions and reflect them internationally
REPORTER: Do you want to see commitments?
JONATHAN PERSHING: and there should be a monitoring and a reporting and a verification of those, and that those reflect the actions that countries take domestically and are part of an international deal.
REPORTER: So does that mean?
JONATHAN PERSHING: Thanks a lot, guys. That's it - that's all I got. Take care, everybody.
But many government officials here are outraged that the US is lecturing India on its responsibilities.
SHYAM SARAN: Climate change is taking place not because of India's current emissions - climate change is taking place because of a huge amount of accumulated carbon emissions in the atmosphere which has been going on for the last 200 years. Who's responsible for that? So if you are going to then reduce everything down to what the current level of emissions is and then say, "It is because India is standing in the way "by not agreeing to any emissions reduction target, "and this is why the negotiations are going to fail," you're looking for scapegoats, you're looking for escape routes. India is not responsible!
Influential environmentalists here are also outraged by what they see as an attempt by rich countries to hobble the growth of poor ones.
SUNITA NARAIN, CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT: The biggest frustration for people like us is that you're seeing a shifting of goal posts constantly.
Veteran activist Sunita Narain is part of the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.
SUNITA NARAIN: The effort is to try and blur the difference between what was done in the past - and therefore the responsibility of countries to reduce - and what will be done in the future, which is countries like China, countries like India, which will have to emit for their own development. And I think that to me is not just frustrating, it is immoral, obviously, but it is also unacceptable because we have to understand no country will accept the freezing of inequity in the world.
JAIRAM RAMESH: I hope that all of you, in the time that Mr Sharma and I have spoken ..
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh shocked many here last month when he suggested India should show greater flexibility in negotiations.
SUNITA NARAIN: The worst thing that is happening in this country today is the Western media, which is playing out this image of India being the nay-sayer, of India being the obstruction. And I think that really has meant that the Indian politicians today are prepared to go out and appease, I believe, the American and the Australian position, which is not good for the planet.
REPORTER: So you're actually concerned that the Indian Government could buckle in the face of this pressure?
SUNITA NARAIN: I think it could buckle in the face of extreme pressure, and it could buckle so that it actually agreed to a bad deal in Copenhagen.
India says it's already doing a lot to combat global warming, and many renewable energy schemes are planned, ranging from planting forests to building the world's biggest solar farm. But tens of millions of village women cook every day over smoky fires that pollute the atmosphere and shorten their lives. Here in Uttar Pradesh a project is being trialled that aims to save the environment and lives by improving the way people cook.
WOMAN (Translation): Too much smoke makes our eyes water.
The main cause of global warming is CO2 emissions, but the soot in this smoke - black carbon - also plays an important role.
DR VEERABHADRAN RAMANATHAN: We have to cut down CO2 emission - that blanket is thickening. We have lost the privilege of doing one thing.
Climate scientist Dr Veerabhadran Ramanathan says that while CO2 lingers in the atmosphere for years, black carbon from soot and diesel emissions only stays a few weeks. Stopping the smoke could therefore make a big difference in the short term.
DR VEERABHADRAN RAMANATHAN, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: My own estimates suggest reducing one tonne of black carbon emission will have the same effect of mitigating climate warming as reducing 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. So it's a huge leverage here.
MAN (Translation): Get to work. The truck's here. Go and unload it.
The village of Khairatpur is becoming a laboratory, where scientists can study what happens when black carbon emissions are reduced. 350 families are receiving new stoves that cook more efficiently and produce less smoke.
MAN (Translation): There will be smoke at first, but later on it's smoke-free.
Importantly, the villagers will still burn the same fuel so their food will taste the same.
MAN (Translation): There's some smoke. Get me some twigs.
But the solar-powered fan will help it burn better and capture the carbon.
MAN (Translation): There's smoke only when you light it. When you light it, take it outside. Then bring it inside. Take it inside when there's no smoke.
MAN (Translation): So tell me how you feel about this stove?
WOMAN (Translation): It's good if I can light it without getting burnt.
MAN (Translation): Oh, no, that won't happen.
Black carbon from diesel is also a big problem in other countries, like the US. But in India the soot and diesel emissions do more damage, accelerating the retreat of the Himalayan glaciers by as much as 50%. Dr Ramanathan wanted to be handing out thousands of stoves by now, but so far he's only been able to raise funds to cover this one village.
DR VEERABHADRAN RAMANATHAN: I have to remain optimistic and I know I'm going to get the funds. And I know we're going to do these 10,000 households in a few years time. Maybe I'm slowed down by a year or two, but it'll happen.
REPORTER: Does the planet have time for this?
DR VEERABHADRAN RAMANATHAN: That's the thing which, you know, really worries me. I spend sleepless nights on it. We don't have time.
India knows only too well the cost of not acting now. It stands to lose a lot more than most rich countries. But there are powerful voices here arguing that this is not the time for compromise.
SUNITA NARAIN: We will not have a deal in Copenhagen just to appease the polluting nations of the world - which is Australia and the US - which are pushing the world towards an agreement which is going to be bad for climate, which is going to be bad for the world.
REPORTER: So is having no deal better than that?
SUNITA NARAIN: Absolutely. Because for too long the world has been blackmailed by countries like Australia and the United States saying, "We will walk out if you don't give us what we want, and we want to keep polluting." I think it's time that the world stood up to the bullies of the world, it's time that the world told Australia and the US that, "You are responsible for the no deal. Do not put the blame on countries like India!"
For the people of the Sunderbans delta, it's already too late for blame. Every day these women shore up their fragile mud homes knowing the tide will inevitably carry them away.
GEORGE NEGUS: Amos Roberts in India, and obviously that 'rich nation versus poor nation' sticking point is not going to disappear overnight.
Reporter/Camera
AMOS ROBERTS
Producer
ASHLEY SMITH
Researcher
VICTORIA STROBL
Fixers
PRAKASH HATVALNE
PUJARINI SEN
SURESH PANJABI
Editors
ROWAN TUCKER-EVANS
NICK O’BRIEN
Subtitling/Translations
A BANEJIE
AESH RAO
Original Music composed by
VICKI HANSEN