In a telephone press conference, he described the summit as a success for Seychelles, explaining that while the final agreement was not ideal, it was still a victory for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which lobbied hard to avoid the deadlock of the summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, last December.

Cancun is the first time that the more developed countries have agreed on a binding legal agreement on emissions, Mr Jumeau said.

“The text that emerged is workable and we can build on it, which is a huge improvement on Copenhagen,” he said.

“We didn’t get all we wanted but we got more than we expected. It is not enough to save us, but it is a step in the right direction.”

Other successes of the summit include agreements on the transfer of technology and setting up an Adaptation and Green Fund to raise $100 billion by 2020 to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

Mr Jumeau, who is also Seychelles’ ambassador to the United States, explained that a lot of the debate focused on financing for climate change, and Seychelles continued to fight for access to funds that allow upper middle-income states producing low emissions to have funds for adaptation as opposed to mitigation.
 
He said Seychelles will continue to push for the allocation of funds to be based on vulnerability as opposed to poverty, as it is island states that face the biggest threat.

Environment Minister Joel Morgan later said: “The most important result of this summit was that the smallest and most vulnerable states were able to make their voices heard, and the rest of the world realised that we will not be silenced.

“Climate change is one of our biggest threats, and Seychelles fought hard for the world to take notice of that fact there [Cancun]. We will continue to push this message at every given opportunity.”

Principal secretary for environment Didier Dogley, who accompanied Mr Jumeau along with Wills Agricole, said the accord was a success in the way it fostered agreement from all involved.

Its main weakness lies in the mitigation text, which contains no reference to emission figures and timelines for developed countries and emerging economies to achieve these, nor any reference to the monitoring, reporting and verification mechanisms for emission limits, he added.

“This means we will have to work very hard to have some sort of agreement on emission limits because the deadline of 2015 to cap emissions of carbon dioxide, so they can peak by 2020, is fast approaching. After that we may not be able to control dangerous climate change,” said Mr Dogley.