Climate change warning at UN Cancun summit
Baku, December 9 (AZERTAC). Ministers have begun talks at the UN climate summit in Cancun amid warnings that time is running out to curb climate change and save the UN process.
The top UN climate official, Christiana Figueres, said the fate of low-lying islands should be "a wake-up call".
Big differences remain between nations on issues such as cutting emissions, protecting from climate impacts, and inspections of others` emission curbs.
It is unclear whether those issues can be resolved in the three days left.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon congratulated negotiators for their work so far.
"The work has been difficult but I see the results of negotiations are encouraging, although it is clear there are formidable challenges to overcome," he said in his opening speech.
"What should prevail is goodwill, trust and understanding and with that we will be able to offer the world an opportunity to open a new path when it comes to fighting climate change."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned delegates they must be prepared to compromise rather than searching for the deal that they ideally wanted.
"We cannot have the perfect be the enemy of the good," he said.
"Business as usual cannot be tolerated, for it would condemn millions - no, billions - of children, women and men around the world to shrinking horizons and smaller futures."
It is universally acknowledged that this summit will not produce a grand, comprehensive climate deal with legal status, as was the hope for Copenhagen.
Instead, ministers are hoping to move far enough to regenerate confidence in the process, and keep the option of achieving a legally-binding deal alive.
Ms Figueres, the Costa Rican diplomat who took up the post of UN climate convention (UNFCCC) executive secretary earlier this year, warned that the stakes at this conference were high.
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