Environment and Africa in focus at Davos

The World Economic Forum settled back into even-tempered discussion of global warming, help for Africa and the faltering world economy today, a day after Middle East tensions ruffled the elite gathering.

An outburst by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had shocked the business and political leaders in Davos on Thursday night.

Erdogan walked off the stage after trading accusations with Israeli President Shimon Peres about the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza that left 1,300 Palestinians dead.

Today participants look at the consequences of rising seas, expanding deserts and disappearing forests.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was set to make an appearance with forum founder Klaus Schwab.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore reflected on the change in US leadership, noting that President Barack Obama was “the greenest person in the room” for making environmental funding a big chunk of the $819bn (€638bn) economic stimulus bill passed this week.

The former US vice president was referring to frustration in many countries at the refusal by the Bush administration to sign international pacts on reducing emissions of carbon blamed for global warming.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer and oil and insurance executives discussed the fate of a UN meeting in Copenhagen in December aiming for a global agreement on reducing emissions.

“The new administration is very serious about this,” Gore he said. “We need an agreement this year, not next year or some other time.”

Later former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan leads talks on how to make any such deal fairer to poor countries.

Annan also meets several African heads of state to discuss how to ensure the crisis-challenged rich world keeps its promises on aid to Africa.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown also said that the developing world must not be ignored even though nations like Britain, Russia, Germany and the US were struggling financially.

He said that to help everyone, global supervision was key to avoid a repeat of the crisis in the future.

“We cannot continue with a situation when we have global financial markets and no form of global supervision,” he said.

Early today, Erdogan was warmly greeted on arriving home as some 5,000 supporters waving Turkish and Palestinian flags flooded Istanbul’s airport when his plane touched down.

Turkish TV showed some of the supporters outside of the airport gate holding banners that applauded his stance in Davos. CNN television said extra buses were being added so more people could turn out to welcome him.

Erdogan’s angry exit Thursday night capped an hour-long debate at the forum. Erdogan tried to rebut Peres as the discussion was ending, asking the moderator, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, to let him speak again.

“You kill people,” Erdogan told the Israeli leader, speaking in Turkish through a translator. “I remember the children who died on beaches. I remember two former prime ministers who said they felt very happy when they were able to enter Palestine on tanks.”

Afterward, Erdogan stressed he left not because of a dispute with Peres but because he was not given time to respond to the Israeli leader’s remarks. Erdogan also complained that Peres had 25 minutes while he was only given 12 minutes.