United Nations Radio

Climate change talks ended in Bonn on Friday with governments having made progress toward deciding the shape of a successful result of the next UN conference in Cancun, Mexico later this year.

Climate change talks in Bonn

Using the metaphor of a pot, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, said everyone understands that it is hard to cook a meal without a pot.

The United Nations climate change chief said governments "are much closer now to actually making the pot."

Ms. Figueres notes that the chairman of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations produced a draft proposal text on Friday which governments will be able to consider between now and the next session in Tianjin, China in October.

"That text includes a possible set of draft decisions for Cancún. - including the impacts of agriculture on emissions, carbon markets and mechanisms, greenhouse gases, and the effects on different countries of moving to a low-emissions future. A key goal in the Kyoto Protocol text is to avoid a gap in industrialized country commitments to cut emissions once the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012."

Christiana Figueres said this should give a much clearer direction to governments to work in the months ahead of Cancun.

However, she added, "governments also have to decide what exactly to cook in the pot" and that to achieve the desired outcomes at Cancun, they must radically narrow down the choices now on the table.

Gerry Adams, United Nations
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