St. Lucian delegate Cletus Springer said he is not hopeful that the Copenhagen summit will reach a significant agreement to combat climate change. (Patricia Bell/CBC)An indigenous delegate at the United Nations' two-week conference on climate change in Copenhagen says time, money and energy is being wasted travelling to the far corners of the world for such talks.

"They suck up too much effort for too little response, and too few benefits," said Cletus Springer, a delegate from St. Lucia and the Organization of American States, who has attended the UN conference for almost two decades.

Like the Arctic, he says the changing climate is a concern for people of the Caribbean's small island countries, especially since the majority live along the coast.

Springer is not hopeful a significant agreement to cut pollutants will be reached in Copenhagen and he believes it's time for indigenous groups and non-governmental organizations to break out of the system.

Too much time is spent talking at these annual meetings and generating paper — not to mention the greenhouse gas emissions from planes flying people in from around the world, Springer said.

The voices of small organizations aren't being heard at the climate change summit, said Lena Kielsen Holm of the Inuit Circumplolar Council. (Patricia Bell/CBC)"It is ironic for me that a region like the Caribbean, which is affected so heavily by climate variability, that region has to use up even more of its human resources and financial resources to come to these meetings to make a case about a situation about which the region is already so fully aware of."

Lena Kielsen Holm, of the Inuit Circumpolar Council Greenland, agreed. The voices of small groups aren't heard at such conferences, she said.

"For these big conferences there are many pre-conferences and it seems that these decisions have already been made before even the big conference is even set up."

Moreover both Holm and Springer contend these conferences don't need to be held every year. The money saved could be diverted toward adaptation and practical actions, Springer said.