By Nina Chestney
Bonn - United Nations climate talks this week urgently need to focus and speed up as time runs out to secure a global deal to combat climate change by the end of the year, delegates at the opening of negotiations on Monday said.
There are only 11 working days of talks left until a United Nations summit in Cancun this November to agree on extending or replacing the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
"There is a lot of interest this week to pick up the pace and move with resolution towards Cancun," UN climate chief Christiana Figueres told reporters.
The existing agreement caps the carbon dioxide emissions of almost 40 developed countries from 2008-2012. However, new targets need the agreement of at least 143 countries - or three quarters of the pact's parties.
A summit in Copenhagen last year ended with a weak agreement and delegates on Monday do not want a repetition this year.
"General debate is not sufficient. We are running out of time. We need to enter as soon as possible into negotiations on actual actions," said Huikang Huang, China's special representative for climate change talks.
In an attempt to break the deadlock, the chair of a UN working group will be consulting with governments this week on whether to use the protocol's current text as a negotiating document going forward.
"The chair will begin consultations this week. Parties will have to decide whether they consider this an option and when they will decide on it," Figueres said. - Reuters