Ben Margolis

At 6:27pm local time on Saturday 15 December, the gavel came down in the main conference centre at the UN climate change conference in Bali. Less than two hours after the US had finally buckled to international pressure, the Bali Roadmap was agreed and delegates from more than 190 countries applauded themselves and conference secretary, Yvo de Boer, on reaching an historic agreement.

Meanwhile, on another Indonesian island, life continues to become more difficult. Abriansyah is a farmer from Kalimantang whose family have lived there for generations. I spoke to Abriansyah in Bali where he was attending the civil society forum as part of an indigenous people's delegation. Even as delegates in Bali were congratulating themselves, farmers in Kalimantang are struggling to survive the impacts of climate change. Speaking through a translator, Abriansyah talked passionately about how increasing temperatures were devastating the livelihoods of people in his community.

'In the past,' he said, 'we used to work in the fields until after 11am, but now we have to stop at 10am when it becomes too hot. In the afternoon we would go back at 3pm, but now we have to wait until 4pm.' Less time in the fields is devastating for farmers who must rely on maximising every crop to ensure survival.

Back at the conference, in luxurious air-conditioned halls, the voices of people like Abriansyah are tragically missing - and missing with them is the sense of urgency necessary to tackle climate change.

And yet, in a world of power politics, Bali will perhaps be remembered as a subtle, but important, historical marker when a shift in power began to take place. Perhaps the single greatest manifestation of this came with an intervention from the floor on the final day of the conference from the delegate from Papa New Guinea.

During a day of incredible drama, which included an emotional Yvo de Boer having to leave the podium, a special plea from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for compromise from 'everybody' and the US defying pressure to come to agreement, Papua New Guinea delegate Kevin Conrad rose to his feet knowing he had an audience of senior decision-makers in the room and potentially billions around the world. In a carefully crafted and short intervention, Mr. Conrad made a direct challenge to the US. 'We want your leadership,' he said. 'But, if for some reason you are not willing to lead, leave it to the rest of us. Please, get out of the way.' After a short, stunned silence, the room erupted with cheers. In no time, the US had got 'out of the way' and an agreement was signed.

Climate change is the most urgent issue facing people and the planet today. It ignores borders and politics and, most certainly, ignores major international conferences. The only thing it cannot ignore is significant, committed action from all countries in the world. The world's major carbon emitters and most industrialised nations must take immediate responsibility for centuries of damage - the kind of action where developing nations receive the justice they deserve.

The Bali Roadmap may offer the direction needed. However, it is at best a long and winding road...and with no targets on the table, one with no clear end in sight.

Another indigenous delegate I spoke to was Salikin Kertorejo from Lampang. His focus was the 'need to create a global movement of people if we are going to maintain ecological sustainability.' For once, these words were echoed inside the conference by people like Yvo de Boer who commented at the end of week one that he was confident a deal would be reached 'because such public pressure has been built to deliver a result here.'

This Roadmap is too important to be left to the politicians. In the coming months and years, civil society movements including the Global Call to Action Against Poverty can and must work together to continue to build irresistible public pressure for binding targets, technology transfer, fair and equitable responses to mitigation and adaptation, and to ensure that the voices of people like Abriansyah and Salikin are heard along the road.

Ben Margolis - Global Call to Action Against Poverty mobilisation taskforce