Diplomats and senior officials representing more than 180 countries are under pressure to sketch out a credible agreement on how to combat global warming as the UN climate change summit enters its final week, writes Frank McDonald.
The summit is taking place in the wake of one of the worst Caribbean hurricane seasons on record and with growing evidence that polar ice caps and Swiss glaciers are melting, and that freak weather is hitting other parts of the world.
The most significant aspect of the summit is that it is not merely the 11th conference of the parties to the UN Climate Change Convention since 1995, but also the first official "meeting of the parties" to the Kyoto Protocol. Thousands of people took to the streets of Montreal at the weekend to call for urgent action on global warming. It was part of an "international day of climate protest".
Preceded by a huge white banner saying "Stop the Hot Air - Save the Arctic, Save the World", the good-humoured, though clearly impatient, demonstrators marched close to the city's Palais des Congrès.
Police roadblocks prevented them getting any closer to the convention centre, where delegations representing more than 180 countries are involved in difficult negotiations on how to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
But not on the Lord's Day. By agreement with the Canadian churches, the Palais des Congrès was closed all day yesterday, and any meetings - including an EU co-ordination session over dinner - were held in nearby hotels.
Saturday's march ended with a rally addressed by activists mainly speaking French, as blue-and-white Quebec flags were waved.
But it was so cold - minus two degrees, not counting the bitter wind chill factor - that many protesters headed for the warmth of Complexe Desjardins, an underground shopping centre, heated no doubt by fossil fuels.
The conference will switch into top gear on Wednesday when environment ministers fly in from around the world to put their seals to a final package, which environmentalists say must include "clear targets" and a deadline for advancing on Kyoto.
Because of this week's Budget, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche is not expected to arrive until Thursday, so the statement on Ireland's position will be given by Minister of State Batt O'Keeffe.
Last Friday, Mr Roche cautioned his EU colleagues at an environment council meeting in Brussels that the imposition of any "carbon tax" on air travel could "stifle . . . the extraordinary innovative capacity" of low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.
On the same day, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen hailed "a new era of long-haul travel" with the inauguration by Gulf Air of a service between Dublin and Bahrain. Air travel is one of the fastest growing contributors to climate change.
Climate summit adopts Kyoto rule book: page 10;
Editorial comment: page 15