THE Copenhagen conference on climate change has finally started today. The platform provides the world's leadership with a golden opportunity to help save the world from the scourge of global warming. The success of the treaty and a guarantee to save the mother earth from an environmental disaster now depends on whether the world's biggest polluters such as USA, UK, Japan and the EU would show the spine to come up with an agreement that could hold global temperature rise within permissible limits. That is to say global emissions to conform to that standard. To achieve this, the developed countries would have to agree to slash their emissions by 40 percent, followed by the developing countries, which would also have to give an assurance of 15-30 percent cuts by 2020. Equally important is that these top industrialised nations provide the developing world with environment-friendly technologies. The conference would last for two weeks to be concluded by an agreement by the participants. Fears are that a substantial deal might not be reached owing to certain quarters in the US and powerful lobbies in the EU who have their own vested interests to protect. Britain's chief negotiator and secretary for climate and energy change Ed Miliband has already hinted at the possibility. The world's leadership can only ill afford to ignore the dangers that are now threatening some of the biggest population clusters in the world like the South Asia. Climate change is not a hypothetical absurdity portrayed in textbooks; it has already ravaged many parts of the earth. Indeed, every corner of the globe is now under threat but it is ironic that while the industrial giants are causing maximum damage to the environment, it is the poorest nations who are hit hardest. A case in point is Bangladesh. The seawater has inundated its various parts close to the shore. The global leadership ought to act now. The world looks on with bated breath.