LATEST ROUND OF UN CLIMATE CHANGE TALKS KICK OFF

With 118 days left until the start of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, where nations are aiming to conclude a new pact to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the latest round of talks has started today in Bonn, Germany.

During the five-day gathering – the third of six meetings ahead of the event in the Danish capital in December – some 2,000 participants are expected to make further progress on the negotiating text.

"We are at an exciting point in the negotiations which can lead us to the turning point in the fight against climate change in Copenhagen," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

That body, with 192 Parties, is the parent treaty of the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period for reducing gas emissions ends in 2012.

In the run-up to the Copenhagen meeting, two more rounds of meetings will be held in Bangkok, Thailand, in October and Barcelona, Spain, in November.

In September, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will host the largest ever gathering of leaders on the issue of climate change at UN Headquarters in New York.

More than 100 heads of State and government are expected to attend the meeting, which seeks to build moment ahead of the Copenhagen talks.

"Two years ago, only a few leaders could speak to these issues," Mr. Ban, who will visit the Arctic ice brim to raise awareness of global warming, told reporters last month. "Today, leaders are walking the road to Copenhagen together. But, we have less than five months to seal a deal."
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