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Bolivia slams widely praised climate plan as talks enter final hours

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Saturday, 11 December 2010 05:22 GMT

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

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* Draft deal refers to new post-2012 round of Kyoto

* Bolivia blasts text, others praise it (Recasts with reactions to draft documents)

By Alister Doyle and Timothy Gardner)

CANCUN, Mexico, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Global climate talks made progress late on Friday toward a deal to slow global warming despite bitter objections by Bolivia to a widely praised proposal to break a deadlock between rich and poor.

More than 100 environment ministers were expected to work through the night to try to end a row between developing countries and Russia, Canada and Japan, which do not want to extend the Kyoto Protocol that curbs emissions in rich countries until 2012.

Many developing nations as well as the European Union, Australia and the United States praised a draft drawn up by host country Mexico in the beach resort of Cancun on the final day of two-week talks. The proposed document refers to "a second commitment period" for Kyoto.

"What we have now is a text that is not perfect but is certainly a good basis for moving forward," said U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern.

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Full coverage of the talks: [nCANCUN]

Factbox on draft climate texts: [ID:nLDE6BA007]

Deforestation special report: [ID:nL3E6N60E4]

Amazon special report: http://link.reuters.com/ged67g

Environment blogs: http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/

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"This is the best product of a collective exercise," Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa told delegates. She won a two-minute standing ovation from delegates.

Any agreement on Kyoto could unlock a modest deal to set up a new "Green Climate Fund" to help the world&${esc.hash}39;s least developed countries and payments to protect tropical forests, and to share low carbon technologies. Negotiators&${esc.hash}39; hope a deal will help slow floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.

But an agreement on Kyoto would need unanimous support, and Bolivia&${esc.hash}39;s objections could derail it.

"Bolivia is not prepared to sign a document which means an increase of the average temperature, which will put more people close to death," Bolivia&${esc.hash}39;s delegate Pablo Solon said.

Bolivia has the toughest demands of any nation at the talks. President Evo Morales told the meeting earlier this week that the climate policies of rich nations were causing "genocide."

Countries backing the draft won applause while Bolivia&${esc.hash}39;s Solon was met by silence. Venezuela and Nicaragua, both allies of Bolivia&${esc.hash}39;s left-wing government, urged more consultations over its objections.

COMPROMISE

"We applaud parties for the will to compromise," European Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said, praising the draft proposal late on Friday.

"We believe it to be very well balanced...this would represent an historic step forward," Australian Climate Minister Greg Combet said.

The U.N.-led talks are trying to rebuild trust between rich and poor nations after President Barack Obama and other leaders failed last year to agree a treaty at a summit in Copenhagen.

"This builds a good road map for more progress in South Africa next year," said Gordon Shepherd of the WWF environmental group.

Developing nations say rich countries, which have historically emitted most greenhouse gases, mainly by burning fossil fuels, must extend Kyoto to a second period before poorer countries sign up for curbs that would hurt their drive to grow their economies and tackle poverty.

Kyoto currently obliges almost 40 developed nations to cut emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012.

Japan, Russia and Canada have said they will not extend it and instead want a new, wider U.N. treaty in coming years that includes binding emissions targets for other countries, including China, the United States and India.

Developing nations insist that the rich must lead the way and first extend Kyoto.

This year&${esc.hash}39;s talks have seen only sporadic protests but a scuffle broke out on Friday with a group of environmental activists outside a main conference hall.

Protesters held signs saying thousands were dying from climate change around the world, and security police struggled to push them onto a bus to clear the entrance of the hall.

The Copenhagen summit collapsed in acrimony, producing only a nonbinding accord to limit a rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times. (Additional reporting by Krittivas Mukherjee in New Delhi and Yoko Kubota in Tokyo; Editing by Kieran Murray)

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