For the developing countries at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris, it’s more than a chance to talk. It’s a chance to be heard — and their representatives are taking advantage of the world stage by airing their grievances and proposing potential fixes.

A woman sells produce at a flooded market place. Hurricane Sandy passed to the west of Haiti October 25, 2012 causing heay rains and winds, flooding homes and overflowing rivers.
Photo Logan Abassi UN/MINUSTAH

How these specific demands will be addressed is still up in the air (along with way too much carbon dioxide). “Nobody is going to get everything they want,” saysReid Detchon, vice president for energy and climate strategy at the United Nations Foundation. And as these nations are in locations that are most acutely feeling the effects of climate change, he adds, the most critical item on the agenda is simply achieving any agreement at all.