| The first week of negotiations of the UN Climate Conference in Durban was "progressive," said Christiana Figueres, UN top official on climate change.
Delegates will continue work this week to finalize a 130-page draft text, which will be the basis for a possible agreement, Figueres told a press briefing on Saturday.
Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC), said major parties have compromised on adaptation issues, such as how developing countries can tackle disasters and other impacts of climate change.
However, different parties are still wrangling over the key issues of the conference, namely the promises of developed countries to cut greenhouse emissions in the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period expires in 2012, as well as the Green Climate Fund.
The European Union ties its support for the Kyoto Protocol to a "roadmap" in Durban and a "mandate" in 2015 for a broader pact covering all major emitters, including the United States and emerging economies. It said the pact should take effect in 2020.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2011) | 
