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Mexico Conference Discusses Steps to Slow Climate Change

   VOA News 29 November 2010

   Nearly  200  nations have begun talks in Mexico in an attempt to agree
   on  steps  to  slow climate change, as the Kyoto Protocol set to limit
   greenhouse-gas emission expires in 2012.
   The  two-week,  U.N.-sponsored  meeting in the Caribbean resort Cancun
   seeks  to get negotiations back on track, after last year's Copenhagen
   summit fell short of producing a legally binding treaty.
   The  ultimate  goal  is extending the Kyoto Protocol, but delegates in
   Mexico  have  more  limited targets.  They hope to reach an agreement
   offering  better  terms  to  developing  nations  that  obtain "green"
   technology  from  advanced countries, as well as improved compensation
   for poorer nations that protect their forests.
   The present Kyoto Protocol commits all industrialized countries to cut
   greenhouse gas emissions by a set amount by 2012.  U.N. officials say
   the talks in Cancun are "extremely unlikely" to get that far, but they
   hope  a  full, legally binding treaty can be agreed at another meeting
   in 2011 in South Africa.
   The  conference  in  Mexico  takes  place in a year that is one of the
   warmest  in  modern  times,  worldwide.  In fact, 2010 may record the
   hottest  average  temperatures  since record-keeping began in the 19th
   century.   Scientists  say  those  rising temperatures will mean more
   floods, droughts, sandstorms and higher sea levels. Â

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

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