December's United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia could have ended in a logjam of indecision until Kevin Conrad, spokesperson for Papua New Guinea, took the floor challenging the United States to take the lead or get out of the way. In a recent interview, Conrad explains why the success of this agreement is vital to smaller countries like Papua New Guinea:

“I think collectively we as humanity have become more mature in this climate battle, and we understand collectively that we’ve got to turn off all the emissions sources in order to win,” he said. “The climate doesn’t know whether it came from a factory or from Papua New Guinea’s deforestation. We’ve really got to get all hands on deck and tackle all of the issues.”

Mr. Conrad said the potential breakdown in the session’s final hours was particularly vexing to him because New Guinea and other forested tropical countries were finally getting attention for a proposal of payments by rich countries for preserving tropical forests. Deforestation currently contributes about a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

He said the rich-poor divide in the talks, which crystallized in the final clash in Bali, is a distraction from the reality that all countries have agreed, by the end of 2009, to do something new: define a threshold for greenhouse gases beyond which the world will not go.

Mr. Conrad's willingness to stand up for his cause will hopefully have positive results in furthering global cooperation on vital climate change issues, but in the very least, his willingness to speak out has brought greater heed to his country’s situation.