New UN climate change talks pin hopes on Mexico summit

May 31, 2010, 16:46 GMT

Bonn - Around 5,000 delegates from around the world began talks in Germany on Monday in a renewed attempt to bring the United Nations' climate change negotiations on track, ahead of another summit in Mexico later this year.

The beginning of the UN conference, set to last almost two weeks, aims to set a framework for discussions ahead of the November summit in Cancun.

Negotiators plan to address key details of any eventual deal, such as the transfer of 'green' technology to developing economies, in the hope of avoiding the stalemate which brought last year's Copenhagen summit to a diplomatic stalemate.

Meanwhile activists gathered in Bonn to protest that none of the eight largest industrial nations was taking a leadership role in the fight on climate change, they claimed.

A book published this week quoted UN climate chief Yvo de Boer saying that the presence of over 100 world leaders at the Copenhagen climate summit paralysed decision-making there.

The book, by Danish author Per Meilstrup, quotes a letter from de Boer, in which he notes that the presence of scores of heads of state and government at the talks - including US President Barack Obama and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao - did not help the process.

   'Their early arrival did not have the catalytic effect that was hoped for. The process became paralysed. Rumour and intrigue took over,' de Boer wrote.

The outgoing climate change chief also partly blamed the Danish hosts after a draft document was leaked, writing to colleagues after the talks that this had 'destroyed two years of effort in one fell swoop.'

The current round of climate change talks in Bonn are due to run until June 11.