Durban, South Africa (dailynewyorknews) – An agreement reached on Sunday in South Africa will help meet the challenges of climate change in coming years, the UN chief.

The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, welcomed the decision of the Parties to the Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa has agreed to extend the efforts outlined in the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol, ratified by 37 countries, due to expire in 2012. It requires industrialized countries to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.

Ban “welcomes the agreement to establish a second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol, which will increase security for the carbon market and provides additional incentives for new investment in technology and infrastructure to address climate change,” said a statement from his office.

As part of a larger pact, nations agree with a legal form to reduce their carbon emissions. The discussions also launched the Green Climate Fund, which in essence would be the channel of approximately 100 million in 2020 to help vulnerable countries cope with climate change effects.

The chief U.S. negotiator, Todd Stern, described the negotiations as “difficult”, but useful.

“For the first time there is an agreement to negotiate a legal agreement of any kind, a legal instrument that applies to all countries -. Who is a new thing that means China, India and Brazil – and no coverage in the same” said Stern.

He added: “We have lobbied in the last three years constantly change the paradigm of this negotiation if applied to all major emitters, because you can not solve this problem for 50-60% of global emissions of any agreement, then the table to make this legal agreement -. that is applicable to all the big games is a great thing. ”

United States Secretary of Energy and Climate Change also said he was happy.

“I think everybody now left with a very credible package that addresses the problems of global warming,” said Chris Huhne.

The agreement came after a marathon session of negotiations.

“It was an extremely complex negotiation, with many moving parts,” said Elliot Diringer, vice president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions has been an adviser to former U. S. President Bill Clinton.

“Until the last moment, had every reason to think he might have collapsed. So I think we met in itself is a success, although the result is not completely happy person,” said Diringer.

Critics who are unhappy with the results include the international charity Oxfam, said negotiators at UN climate talks agreed to “front to a minimum.”

“The plan is a Green Fund for the weather up without any funding sources … and gets a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol without the key members,” Oxfam said in a statement Sunday. Without additional measures, Oxfam said, “farmers in parts of Africa could face a decline in yields over 50% in this generation or their children. Food prices could more than double over the next two decades until half of those caused by climate change. ”

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/11/world/south-africa-climate-pact/index.html?hpt=iaf_c1