"It is irresponsible and contrary to common objective to say that we can't achieve something in Cancun," Luis Alfonso de Alba, Mexico's ambassador for climate change, was quoted as saying by India's Economic Times. "The second mistake is to say that what we can't achieve in Cancun will happen in South Africa."

The global community, he added, needs to be "ambitious yet pragmatic and realistic" in the run-up to the Cancun conference this December.

De Alba is currently in Bonn, where delegates from more than 180 governments are trying to reinvigorate the deadlocked U.N. process. The Bonn talks are aimed to set the agenda and work on treaty drafts for the 16th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change -- or Cop 16 -- in the Mexican resort of Cancun late this year.

Indian, Chinese and European officials during the past months said hopes for a comprehensive climate treaty to emerge from Cancun are virtually zero, postponing hopes for such a deal to the 2011 summit in South Africa.

Climate negotiations have been deadlocked since Cop 15 in Copenhagen ended in acrimony.

Leaders couldn't agree on concrete emissions reduction targets or a way to measure them. They also failed to come up with a system of funding from rich to poor nations to help them cope with climate change.

The summit culminated in the publication of the so-called Copenhagen Accord, a weak declaration agreed between the United States, China, Brazil and South Africa after larger negotiations had broken down. The accord wasn't adopted but merely noted by countries, many of which denounced it.

Poorer countries felt that the talks were being dominated by a few large industrialized nations.

De Alba vowed that the Cancun talks would "restore faith and confidence in the process," saying that while selected nations might meet for individual negotiations in small groups, decisions would be taken by all parties.

Industrialized and developing nations are still at odds over how to limit the global temperature rise to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. A rise beyond that limit would result in potentially catastrophic consequences for humanity, with meteorological disasters increasing, scientists say.

Developing nations have resisted a legally binding treaty because they claim rich nations that have benefited from emitting during the past decades should shoulder more of the burden.

Industrialized countries argue the developing nations need to commit to concrete reduction targets to enable a global effort. The European Commission recently backtracked on a plan to unilaterally boost the bloc's greenhouse gas emissions reduction target from 20 percent to 30 percent.

The European Union has committed itself to reduce its CO2 levels by 20 percent until 2020 and boosted that target to 30 percent if the world's other major emitters -- the United States and leading emerging economies such as India and China -- come together for a binding climate protection deal.

China recently overtook the United States as the world's biggest emitter of heat-trapping greenhouse gases but still emits far less on a per capita basis.

Two days before the start of the FIFA Soccer World Cup in South Africa, Yvo de Boer, the United Nations' top climate official, switched to soccer imagery Wednesday in Bonn:

"We got a yellow card in Copenhagen and the referee's hand will edge toward the red one if we fail to deliver in Cancun and beyond," said de Boer, who steps down July 1 and on Wednesday delivered his farewell address. "I am confident that in Cancun you will not only try, but also succeed."

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News