CRI听力:World Leaders and Environmental Activists Welcome the Paris Agreement

Almost as soon as the climate change accord was agreed, U.S. President Barack Obama tweeted his approval of the deal describing it as "huge" and crediting American leadership for the agreement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the climate change agreement "a victory for all of the planet and for future generations."

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also gave her backing to the agreement, summing up the spirit of the two week negotiations.

"Our work here is done and now we can return home to implement this historic agreement. This is a pivotal moment for we have concluded a new global, legal agreement that we see all countries committed to taking ambitious steps in accordance with the national circumstances and capabilities. The world has come together to capture our common aspirations."

Among the delegates at the conference hall, South African Environment Minister Edna Molewa was one of the first to speak following the adoption of the global pact to combat climate change.

She praised the agreement, saying that it calls on all countries to reduce or rein in their greenhouse gas emissions as "the best we can get at this historic moment", at the same time, she stressed that developed countries should enhance the ambition of their actions.

"Again, developing countries have been asked to take this leap without a firm commitment to provide the support that will enable us to contribute our fair share. For our efforts to combat climate change to be successful, Mr. President, it is critical that developed countries significantly enhance the ambition of their actions and ensure that the enhanced actions of developing countries are adequately supported."

According to the draft, nations would have to reach a peak in greenhouse emissions "as soon as possible" and achieve a balance between output of manmade greenhouse gases and absorption - by forests or the oceans - "by the second half of this century".

However, Environmental Politics Specialist Francois Gemenne expressed his concern, saying the objective to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels was not realistic.

"In my opinion, the big uncertainty is how this objective of 1.5 degrees, which is the big surprise of the agreement, will be taken seriously because as things stand now, this objective is absolutely not realistic. So if we take it seriously, we have to change direction immediately and that means the immediate end to energy derived from fossil fuels, and that is a revolution which we probably don't measure the consequences of yet."

As the conference was entering its final phase, demonstrations continued in Paris.

Activists saying the final agreement would not go far enough, and staging protests to call attention to populations threatened by melting glaciers, rising seas and expanding deserts.

For CRI, I'm Niu Honglin.