The historic climate agreement reached last week at the United Nations Climate Conference is just the beginning of the effort, said a University of Arizona professor who was in Paris.
Don Falk of the UA's School of Natural Resources said half to two-thirds of the people at the Paris summit were not part of official delegations but represented world issues.
"This includes people concerned about the environment, about indigenous peoples issues, about gender issues, poverty, hunger," said Falk. "The thing about climate is that it connects profoundly to all of those issues it’s not an isolated question of OK let’s get CO2 out of the atmosphere and we’re done."
Nearly 200 nations signed the accord which is aimed at holding global warming to 2 degrees Celsius or less. How that goal is attained will take work by politicians, researchers and the civil society interests, Falk said.
"Every nation on Earth agreed that while this agreement was not perfect, it was a major step forward, and I think that is a truly extraordinary accomplishment," said Falk.
Falk calls the agreement a milestone in modern world history.