Lima talks leave delegates exhausted, but now the hard work starts

A fortnight of tense-talks at Lima left delegates from nearly 200 countries exhausted.

Now those same delegates must take a deep breath and the result of the Lima climate change discussions back to their respective countries and begin the really hard work.

Equipped with understandings from the Lima talks, they must now come up with a respective national plan for reining in greenhouse gas emissions by an informal deadline of March 31, 2015 – conversations in Lima, Peru, were undoubtedly difficult, but back home they face a new regime of demands and measurements that will be used to form the basis of a global agreement due at a summit in Paris in a year's time.

An ABC story headed: “COP20 Climate Forum: Lima UN talks agree on building blocks for 2015 climate deal” sets the scene.