Is it really Hopenhagen?

As world leaders meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a deal on how to address climate change, hope is the last thing that fades.

Temperatures may have cooled over the past few days but the hot weather that persisted throughout November has created "disorder" for trees with olive buds appearing out of season, according to farmers.

Joe Sciberras tills his fields in the idle Manikata valley, far removed from chilly Copenhagen where world leaders are meeting to try and reach a deal to stem climate change and save the world from catastrophe.

The unorthodox weather has created "disorder", Mr Sciberras laments, insisting conditions were not right this year for prune trees and vines.

"The persistence of the hot weather meant trees did not have a rest period before the spring season kicks in," he says, pointing out that small fruit buds appeared on some olive trees.

The cause of the "disorder" Mr Sciberras talks about is warmer temperatures and his reflection was confirmed on Tuesday by the World Meteorological Organisation. The first decade of this century has been the warmest since instrumental records began according to the WMO.

What American President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Chinese Premier Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi decide upon at the end of the UN-sponsored climate conference in the Danish capital will have an impact on the livelihood of farmers like Mr Sciberras.

Changing weather patterns bring new insects and diseases that require new methods to combat them, Mario Cardona, a member of the Manikata Farmers' Cooperative, says.

"Farmers feel the impact of climate change first-hand but one of the more pressing domestic issues is water management," he argues, pointing out that underground water is extracted faster than it is replenished. Whatever is agreed upon in Copenhagen, he adds, Malta has to have a serious long-term water management policy.

"It is unacceptable that water produced from drainage purification plants is being thrown out to sea when this could be treated further and distributed for agricultural purposes. This would give the water table chance to replenish naturally," Mr Cardona says.

However, climate change is a much more complicated matter according to biologist Victor Axiak who insists science has not fully understood some aspects of the phenomenon.

He is pessimistic about what the summit hopes to achieve, insisting some environmental problems could be reversed but others, such as water depletion in mountainous areas, are more difficult to redress.

"These meetings try to achieve political consensus, the hard part comes afterwards to translate the words into action. Unfortunately, I see it an as uphill struggle. I am very preoccupied that we may exit Copenhagen claiming victory when we would still have a steep hill to climb," Prof. Axiak says.

His pessimism is also reflected by popular television presenter John Bundy. Having lent his image last year to a government campaign encouraging people to save on electricity and switch off their appliances, Mr Bundy does not mince his words. "We are ruining our planet and people expect action not words. I don't believe they will solve anything at Copenhagen. These summits are just bulls**t," he insists.

When politicians wanted to take action against global security threats, he adds, they did so urgently without the need for summits.

Malta's concerns about the impact of climate change are similar to those of other island states, some of which risk being wiped out by rising sea levels.

At the UN climate talks yesterday, the pacific island state of Tuvalu asked for negotiations to be suspended after differences emerged between small island states and poor African nations, which are demanding a legally-binding deal, and richer developing states, such as China, which fear tougher action would curb their growth.

"Tuvalu is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change and our future rests on the outcome of this meeting," the island's chief negotiator said.

Finding the right balance between the competing interests of different states will be hard to achieve but farmers such as Mr Sciberras are hoping world leaders could rise above their petty differences. His future and that of the land tilled by previous generations depends on the outcome of the Copenhagen talks.