CANADA: Environmentalists are calling on political leaders to push for real progress, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
The only achievement so far at the latest UN climate summit has been the adoption of a basic "rule book" on how to implement technical provisions of the historic Kyoto Protocol, which came into force last February despite entrenched US opposition.
But the first week of negotiations involving diplomats and officials in Montreal's sealed-off Palais des Congrès proceeded at a snail's pace, on all of the key issues. "If this was a race, a snail would have beaten us," one delegate said.
An EU source was more upbeat, saying talks were "going surprisingly well" and there was a new air of "realism" about where the process should be going, particularly the involvement of rapidly developing countries like China. "Until the Russians ratified Kyoto last year, everyone was playing a waiting game," the source said. "But now that it has come into force, China and India can see that we're prepared to do our bit and don't feel as threatened anymore."
Friends of the Earth has called on the EU and the Canadian environment minister, Stéphane Dion, who is presiding over the conference, to take a stronger lead in pushing for real progress.
Much of the continuing argument revolves around Article 3.9 of the Kyoto Protocol, which specifies that negotiations to secure further commitments on deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions should be initiated by 2006.
However, Mr Dion has tabled proposals to deal with what happens after Kyoto's "first commitment period" expires in 2012, not under the protocol itself but rather the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in which the US is still a participant.
Though the Bush administration has shunned Kyoto, it is obliged by the convention - adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro - to take unspecified steps to reduce its prodigious emissions as well as help developing countries adapt to climate change.
The US delegation favours a "plan of action" for assisting the least developed countries which will be hardest hit, but in the wake of Hurricane Katrina it has alienated many of them by suggesting that it, too, should have access to an adaptation fund.
The EU, which has made much of the running on Kyoto, wants an open and inclusive dialogue, but it has not yet offered sufficient incentives to persuade developing countries to come on board - by pledging more aid to help the poorest of them to adapt.
"There is a real need for leadership," said Catherine Pearce, Friends of the Earth's climate campaigner. "The first week has seen a great deal of attention focused on opening up discussions under the convention, and opening the door to the US.
"But the US administration has made it blatantly clear that they are not interested in action and there is a real risk that they will use these talks to block proposals from other countries move this agenda on."
The final shape of any deal will only become clear when the "high-level segment" involving environment ministers gets under way. Ultimately, it will be up to them to decide whether to adopt clear targets and a deadline for replacing Kyoto.
To underline its demand, Friends of the Earth has unveiled a vast mosaic outside the Palais des Congrès consisting of tiles hand-painted by people around the world calling for urgent action on climate change.