Jun 4, 2009, 13:54 GMT
Bonn, Germany - Three more rounds of climate-change talks will be held ahead of a major conference in Copenhagen in December, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said Thursday.
The meetings are in addition to a current round which began Monday in the German city of Bonn as part of efforts to agree on tough new limits to global emissions of greenhouse gases.
There will be another session in Bonn from August 10-14 as well as a meeting in Bangkok from September 28 - October 9 and one in Barcelona from November 2-6, the UNFCCC said.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen from December 7-18 is intended to sign off on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
Some 192 nations are taking part in the talks, which are proving difficult because national interests and the competitiveness of various industrial sectors are at stake.
The issue is also expected to be discussed by the G8 club of rich nations meeting in Italy in July as well as on the fringe of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
Yvo de Boer, executive director of the UNFCCC, said at the start of the Bonn talks that he was confident the Copenhagen meeting would succeed, although 'there are some tough nuts to crack.'
Industrialized nations have still not settled the scale of their cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for the 'greenhouse effect.'
The European Union has offered a cut by 2020 of 20 per cent compared to its emissions in 1990. The United States has proposed a cut of 17 per cent compared to its emissions in 2005, which translates to about 4 per cent by comparison to 1990.
Developing nations argue that the cuts by the industrialized world must be far bigger: 25 to 40 per cent compared to 1990.
Scientists have urged diplomats to adopt policies that would limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, saying any more might prove disastrous for life on earth.
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