LE BOURGET, France – After the release of the the final draft of the UN climate change agreement, country delegations have only a few hours to decide whether or not to accept it.

The draft was released around 1:30 pm in Paris, France (8:30 pm Manila time) around an hour after country representatives gathered in a Comite de Paris meeting where French Foreign Minister and COP21 president Laurent Fabius, French President Francois Hollande, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke.

The powerful speeches of the 3 world leaders were last-ditch efforts to convince countries to adopt the draft climate action agreement later today.

Fabius has asked country delegations to meet again at 3:45 pm, for a plenary session where ministers will declare their support or rejection of the draft. This was later on moved to 5:30 pm after the biggest negotiating bloc, G77+China, decided to hold a meeting at 4pm.

The decisions to be made in the next few hours, within the wooden walls of over a hundred delegation offices, may determine if the Paris talks will end in success or failure.

Pia Ranada reports from outside the Comite de Paris venue minutes after the meeting. – Rappler.com