The following are quotes from world leaders and senior officials participating in the Bali climate talks.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
"This is the moral challenge of our generation. Not only are the eyes of the world upon us. More important, succeeding generations depend on us. We cannot rob our children of their future."

"Our atmosphere can't tell the difference between emissions from an Asian factory, the exhaust from a North American SUV, or deforestation in South America or Africa."

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
"We are embarking on the biggest project in human civilization. We must ensure that the United States ... is part of such post-2012 arrangements."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
"For Australians, climate change is no longer a distant threat. Our rivers are dying, bushfires are more ferocious and more frequent and our natural wonders -- the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, our rainforests -- are now at risk."

Paula Dobriansky, Head of the U.S. Delegation
"We want the world's largest economies, including the United States, to be part of a global arrangement. An approach in which only some are committed to acting cannot be environmentally effective."

"We don't want to be prejudging outcomes here," she said of U.S. opposition to scientific guidelines for rich nations to cut emissions by 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
"We don't want to be predetermining what will come out of this process."

President of the Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
"We believe that climate change must be viewed not only as a danger to natural systems, but also as a direct threat to human survival and well-being. We are convinced that this negotiation process must not be viewed as a traditional series of governmental trade-offs, but as an urgent international effort to safeguard human lives, homes, rights and livelihoods."

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Michael Somare
"The answer is simple. If we lose the world's forests, we lose the fight against climate change. Rainforests are our Earth's greatest utility -- our planet's lungs, thermostat and air-conditioning system."

President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick
Climate change policies cannot be the frosting on the cake of development; they must be baked into the recipe of growth and social development."

Director-General of the FAO, Jacques Diouf
"Low-income people everywhere will be at risk of food insecurity due to loss of assets, absence of alternative livelihood options and lack of adequate insurance coverage from extreme weather events."

Is it just me or does it seem like these esteemed leaders are saying the same thing they have been for years, just with a slightly more urgent tone? Or in some cases does it seem like they aren’t really saying anything at all? The “frosting on the cake of development…baked into the recipe of growth and social development?” Nice metaphor, but try cooking up some solutions if this situation is so dire, rather than spouting off meaningless euphemisms. Haha, cooking up a solution. See I can do it too Mr. Zoellick

» Reuters