change

The global average surface temperature in 2001 is expected to be the second warmest on record, nearly half a degree above the average for the past 40 years, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said.

The fight against climate change is not just an environmental issue but also a matter of fundamental development, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today in a message to ministers and policy-makers gathered in Marrakech, Morocco, to finalize rules for implementing the Kyoto Protocol.

The first week of the international climate talks in Marrakech, Morocco, has made "good progress," according to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The next round of high-level talks on global warming will take place in Africa for the first time later this year, the Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change announced today.

A new chance to fight poverty, environmental degradation and chronic energy shortages across Africa is fast emerging as a result of the latest negotiations to fight global warming, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have formally adopted an operational rulebook for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which sets legally binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

A key official involved in the ongoing talks in Bonn on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change said late on Thursday that negotiators had made some progress over the past few days in several areas.

Multilateral negotiations on climate change formally resumed this morning in Bonn following an agreement last night to begin work on resolving outstanding issues before the ministerial meeting on the United Nations climate change treaty begins on Thursday.

Ministers and diplomats will meet in Bonn over the next two weeks in an effort to finalize the rulebook for implementing the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty's secretariat said today.

Senior officials from 40 countries - including 25 environment ministers - have expressed their support for the resumption of formal talks on climate change due to take place in Germany in July, a United Nations spokesman said today.