A bloc of Latin American nations said on Tuesday it opposed any delay to a legally binding climate deal until 2020, accusing developed nations of not doing their share to halt global warming, according to Reuters. The ALBA alliance of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean wants to pressure wealthy nations responsible for most past emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases to take more action. More than 190 nations are meeting in Durban, South Africa, this week to try to agree what to do after the first stage of the Kyoto Protocol expires next year. The talks are aimed at cutting the greenhouse gases scientists blame for rising sea levels, intense storms, drought and crop failures. The protocol binds nearly 40 industrialised nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels during 2008-12. Developing nations were not included, but emissions from major emerging economies have soared since the pact was agreed in 1997. "We are ready to go beyond ... but what we are asking is an equivalent movement on the side of developed countries ... how are they going to raise that level of ambition?" said Claudia Salerno, the chief negotiator for Venezuela, part of the ALBA group. The European Union is calling for a new global deal on emissions cuts to be reached by 2015 and implemented by 2020, while the United States, which has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol, said it would not join any global deal unless major emerging powers, such as China, were also bound by its terms. Canada on Monday dismissed the Kyoto Protocol as a thing of the past, but declined to confirm a media report that it would formally pull out of the treaty before the end of the year. Russia and Japan say they will not sign up to a second stage of the Kyoto Protocol unless big emerging nations do too. "We are very concerned ... about the possibility of moving away from a very strict system, which is the Kyoto Protocol," said Rene Orellana, the chief negotiator for Bolivia, another ALBA nation. "We are very worried about some of the developed countries that not only don't want to offer a higher level of ambition but also want to go out of the Kyoto Protocol. "How are their commitments going to be ruled and monitored if there is no Kyoto?," Orellana said. The bloc also said it would reopen discussions on the design of the Green Climate Fund, meant to help developing countries tackle climate change via commitments of up to $100 billion a year by 2020. "We feel there is no legal power enforcing the fund," said Orellana, adding more clarity was also needed on where the money was coming from, with more focus to be placed on private sector funding. Other ALBA nations include Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua, the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominca, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
