By Patrick Worsnip
New York - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged on Monday that a key UN conference on climate change in Mexico at the end of this year might not produce the definitive agreement the world body is seeking.
The admission brings Ban, who ultimately is responsible for global climate change negotiations, in line with the view of many national negotiators and some of his own officials.
Attention has focused on the November 29-December 10 meeting in Cancun, Mexico, since a UN summit in Copenhagen last December fell short of a legally binding deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
"We need to be practical and realistic," Ban told a questioner at a monthly news conference at UN headquarters on Monday. "It may be the case that we may not be able to have that comprehensive binding agreement in Cancun."
Ban's comment followed a climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, last week where delegates said the talks on pledges to cut greenhouse gases had moved backward rather than forward.
UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said at that meeting that goals at Cancun should include a mandate to move toward an all-embracing agreement, "which would take more time". Another focus should be getting countries to deliver on past promises on climate aid and protecting forests, she has said.
Ban said negotiations had made "real progress" in some areas, such as financing poor countries to tackle climate change, developing technology to adapt to it, and reforestation.
"On the basis of these sectoral areas, we will try to build so that we will be able to move ahead in a more comprehensive way," the UN chief said. "First and foremost we must bridge the gap of trust between developed and developing countries." - Reuters