Climate change warning at UN Cancun summit

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "The longer we delay, the more we will have to pay"Continue reading the main story
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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.


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